GREEN BAY, Wis. — For the first time since the very early days of his time coaching the Bears, Ben Johnson looked like he was out of answers Sunday against the Packers.
Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent couldn’t get anything going, so Johnson tried Case Keenum in the fourth quarter. Nothing. The rushing attack never found a groove. No one stepped up as a go-to option in the passing game.
Play after play failed, and the Packers crushed the Bears 31-7 at Lambeau Field. It was the most lopsided and embarrassing loss for Johnson since the Lions ran him out of the building in his second game last season.
“When you can’t get in a rhythm offensively, I’ve got to look at myself first,” Johnson said. “What do we have in? Did we prepare the right way? What [were] the play calls?”
Johnson credited new Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon for having his number all day and said, “We knew we were going to get their best shot, and we sure did,” but maintained frustration that his team undermined itself with errors.
It was the Bears’ first game since the death of former coach Mike Ditka on Friday, and players wore a No. 89 decal on their helmets in honor of the number he wore as a Bears tight end in the 1960s. The Packers held a moment of silence for Ditka before the game.
Johnson immersed himself in this rivalry with his “[Expletive] the Packers” rant last season and by exchanging snippy shots with coach Matt LaFleur, but there was none of that after this one. He and LaFleur met briefly afterward, and Johnson appeared to say, “Good job,” while shaking LaFleur’s hand with a grimace.
He must have believed his team was beyond something this ugly, even with a backup quarterback. This is the same coach who felt emboldened enough to set his sights on the 2013 Broncos’ scoring record and a trip to the Super Bowl.
Who could deny him after the Bears opened with 59 points against the Panthers? They’ve totaled 60 over four games since then, however, and they’d now need to average nearly 44 per game.
That’s overly ambitious even with the possibility of quarterback Caleb Williams returning Sunday against the Falcons.
A week earlier, when Bagent was mediocre against the Jets, No. 2 running back Kyle Monangai was the engine of the offense with 146 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He missed the Packers game with a toe injury, and no one else showed up to save the day as Bagent completed 12 of 21 passes for 87 yards and two interceptions for a 27.4 passer rating before Johnson benched him.
“Super disappointed, but really can’t look any further than the mirror,” Bagent said. “It really, starting with me, just didn’t go our way.”
There was a flicker late in the third quarter when Bagent hit Colston Loveland for a seven-yard pass on fourth-and-four with the Bears down 23-7, but he threw an interception the very next play. Gannon fooled Bagent by showing a Cover 0 defense (no safety deep) before the snap, then the Packers flipped to a Cover 2 and had safety Xavier McKinney in perfect position to beat Loveland to the ball for his second pick of the game.
Keenum was no better. He walked into a golden opportunity at the Packers’ 31-yard line and threw an interception in the end zone on fourth-and-goal. He also lost a fumble in the fourth and finished 11-for-19 passing for 108 yards and a 52.1 rating.
Johnson, unwilling to concede, kept swinging to the end and had Keenum throw deep on fourth-and-21 from his own 21-yard line with 1:10 remaining.
A week after running an NFL season-high 89 plays and racking up 492 yards in a punt-free win over the Jets, the Bears managed just 246 yards against the Packers — their lowest under Johnson — and went 4 for 14 on third down.
That reheated the debate about whether Johnson should’ve stuck with Keenum, who lit up the Eagles in the first game after Williams’ hamstring injury, and Johnson wouldn’t say who he’d start against the Falcons if Williams remains out.
The Bears need everything he brings: dual-threat playmaking, improvisational wizardry, electric energy.
Johnson has managed his absence short term, and it’s not the end of the world to sit 3-2 with him on the verge of coming back. But his playbook alone can’t carry them for the long run.
Williams progressed from throwing on the side last week to practicing partially Friday to working out at Lambeau Field on Sunday morning. He appears to be on track to step back into his spot at practice Wednesday, but when asked about him playing against the Falcons, Johnson said, “It’s going to be close.”
If there’s anything uncertain about his health, it’d be prudent to wait until ensuing Thursday against the Patriots. Two games in five days might not be ideal for Williams coming off that injury, and there’s an extended break after the Patriots game leading up to the Nov. 2 visit to the defending champion Seahawks.
But for whatever amount of time the Bears have to wait for Williams, it’s on Johnson to figure out a solution. His ability to adjust and pivot has been his hallmark as the Bears’ coach, and he ran out of moves Sunday.