Ben Johnson breaks down what’s hurting their passing game

There’s been a lot to like about Ben Johnson during his time as the Chicago Bears head coach, but his honesty and accountability when meeting the media are something we haven’t seen in Chicago in a long time.

Yesterday, he was asked about Caleb Williams’ accuracy (58.1% through 12 games) and how concerned he is about it at this point in the season. Last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, his completion percentage was below 50% for the first time this year.

“It’s an area that we are certainly talking about, there’s no question,” Johnson said in his press conference. “I will say in regards to Friday, that was one of the more challenging games in terms of the wind. I called an outbreaker to DJ [Moore] early in that game, and DJ ran a phenomenal route, and yet when the ball’s in the air that long, that wind was taking care of it. After that throw, I was a little bit concerned, particularly going that direction of putting the ball in the air for too long. [Even] for a guy like Caleb, who’s got a super strong arm, too.”

The conditions in Philly were bad, but Johnson wasn’t using that as an excuse.

“So, I would say that plays a part, but there’s a number of them that we’ve been talking about where we got to fundamentally be correct,” Johnson added. “The primary receiver when he’s open, we’ve got to make sure we hit him. And then all of our pass catchers — we just harped on it today — we need to be more disciplined in our route detail. It’s not where it needs to be. Our depth’s not proper all the time, our steps… Everybody has a role to play to get this pass game cleaned up. It’s not where it needs to be. We’re winning in spite of our passing game, not because of it. And none of us are pleased with that right now.”

The Bears have rushed for the second-most yards in the NFL and are 16th in passing yards, which gives them a top-10 offense in Ben’s first season, but they know they need to get the passing attack on track.

Especially if they want to make a postseason run.