NFL preseason or not, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson was displeased over the mistakes he saw from his team in Saturday's 27-9 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. That included 11 penalties committed by the Bears throughout the game and several failures to convert drives into touchdowns during a matchup where some of the starters, including quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Rome Odunze, played briefly. "Doesn't matter if it's preseason or not.
It's a bad feeling in that locker room after the game you lose ... The penalties and the third downs on both sides of the ball, they really hurt us in the first half, and we weren't able to get those cleaned up," Johnson said, referring to 11 penalties in the game. "When you add in the Red Zone, the fact that we were able to move the ball at times okay, but we couldn't end up with touchdowns, those are major killers when you're facing a good team like that," he said.
More news: Deshaun Watson Sounds off on ‘Disrespectful’ Browns Fans Booing Him Williams completed 2 of 5 attempts for 28 yards. Two Bears backups also played, with Case Keenum completing 9 of 17 for 119 yards and Miller Moss throwing 13 of 21 for 103 yards. However, the best the Bears could do was three field goals.
Throughout the game, Chicago was a paltry 2 of 14 on their third-down conversion attempts and went 0 for 2 in the red-zone. Meanwhile, the Bengals appeared much sharper, even with backup personnel, going 6 of 13 on third-down conversions, and made two red-zone conversions in three attempts. With the loss, Chicago is 1-1 in the preseason, which many will contend doesn't mean much when it comes to the regular season.
Teams are working out and auditioning various personnel in these August games, but the starters rarely play beyond a drive or quarter of the game. Johnson's postgame remarks arrive ahead of what could be a defining season for the head coach and star quarterback Caleb Williams, especially after what they achieved last season. Many believe it was purely a magical and often lucky run by the Bears, who won the NFC North and No. 2 seed in the conference, then advanced to the NFC Divisional Round.
Others contend that it was a breakout season for Williams to emerge as a true star under his new head coach. The word "regression" has been mentioned by some for this Bears' season, and that all depends on how the team plays when their main personnel are on the field. They'll face the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, Aug. 29, to wrap up the preseason slate, before focusing on their regular-season opener.
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