Ben Johnson: Bears still haven’t played a full 60 minutes yet

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 3 hours ago

CHICAGO - Head coach Ben Johnson is all about perfection.

That is why, despite the Chicago Bears being on a four-game winning streak, there are still numerous improvements he is looking to see as the season progresses.

“I don’t think we’ve played a collective 60 minutes yet as a team, and I think it will be a beautiful thing when that happens in, really, all three phases,” Johnson said. “Offensively, we’ve had times where the passing game’s looked good. We’ve had times where the running game’s looked good. But, it just hasn’t come together as an entire team or entire unit quite yet. And so, (it) will be a fun thing to watch when that happens.”

One problem quarterback Caleb Williams faced as a rookie was holding onto the ball too long. This season, he has continued to hold onto the ball too long.

However, this is not something Johnson is too concerned about, given the importance the coaching staff has placed on Williams’ footwork and getting through his progressions, which can sometimes lead to holding onto the ball longer.

“I know that he certainly is extending plays probably more so than most and so, maybe that augments that number a little bit,” Johnson said. “Really throughout this process in the spring and in camp, we’ve been pretty consistent with, ‘Let’s drill the footwork. Let’s have that footwork guide us through our progressions.’ and there’s times where we’re really good at it and there’s other times where we maybe are either too fast or we’re too slow and so, we’re working through that and I think we’re learning from it as well. But, it’s still a work in progress.”

Chicago has a lot of offensive weapons, and going into this season, Johnson knew it would be a challenge to get the ball to all of these playmakers. In the first four games, it was very lopsided with wide receiver Rome Odunze getting a lot of the targets, receptions, and touchdowns. That has evened out a bit since the bye week. Nonetheless, rookie tight end Colston Loveland has not gotten involved too much.

Through the first six games, Loveland has only eight receptions for 78 yards. He has yet to record his first NFL touchdown, although seven different players on Chicago’s offense have scored a touchdown. This includes two rookies - receiver Luther Burden III and running back Kyle Monangai.

Veteran tight end Cole Kmet is currently dealing with a back injury that puts his status for Chicago’s upcoming game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sun. Oct. 26 (Noon / CBS) into question.

Therefore, Loveland might have the opportunity to get more snaps and more targets if Kmet is unable to play.

“Colston’s coming along nicely. I think he showed up in a very positive manner in the running game and then the routes that we are asking him to run, I think he’s doing a really nice job of it and so, we’re going to continue to push that envelope. I look down at that stat sheet last week and when you complete less than 20 of your balls, you’re (going to) be disappointed in a number of different areas,” Johnson said. “I want to get Rome the ball more. I want to get (receiver) DJ (Moore) the ball more. Luther deserves more. (Wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus) deserves (more). We’ve got all these mouths we have to feed and so, in order to make sure that they’re all getting touches, we just got to find completions and so, I’m pleased with how Colston’s playing and I know that the production (six) games into it isn’t what any of us maybe had looked for from a number of perspectives, but he’s impacting games in a very positive fashion for us and he’s a reason why our offense is going to continue to get better.”