The Chicago Bears didn’t look anything like a playoff team — on offense or defense — during Sunday’s 19-16 loss to the Detroit Lions, but coach Ben Johnson is convinced his team will be ready when the playoffs begin.
The Bears appear to have a lot to fix before they host the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on Saturday (7 p.m., Prime Video and Fox-32), the nightcap of two wild-card games.
“It can all be addressed,” Johnson said via Zoom on Monday. “We’re not far away. You never are in this league.
“We’ve just got to clean up some of the mental errors we had. I think in the first 11 plays we counted six mentals as an offense. When you’re facing a good team you can’t do that. And so we’ll clean that up.”
On Sunday, the defense yielded 433 yards and spotted the Lions a 16-0 lead through the third quarter.
The offense punted on three of the first four possessions and didn’t crack the scoreboard until 14:20 left in the fourth quarter.
It didn’t help that the Lions dominated time of possession in the first half, 19:12 to 10:48.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff had his way in the intermediate areas with crossing routes and man-beaters, but Johnson refused to lay the bulk of the blame on the defense.
“The No. 1 thing is we’re looking to limit the opponent with their points,” Johnson said. “You left that game with a good offense and they only scored 19, 16 up until the last two minutes.
“I thought our defense played well enough for us to win the ballgame. I know we want to get off the field faster and we want to create more possessions for our offense. There’s ways to get that done.”
He reserved his sternest critique for the offense.
“We’ll be a lot sharper here going forward,” Johnson said. “And so we’re going to be OK. But when you have eight possessions and three of them are three-and-outs it’s just not the recipe for good football.”
Johnson said his offensive players took his criticism well, but he’ll see how they respond with how well they perform in practice.
The Bears are scheduled to have a walk-through on Tuesday, practice Wednesday and Thursday, have another walk-through Friday and play the Packers on Saturday night.
Still, for a team that at times this season earned the nickname “Cardiac Bears,” they looked comatose for the majority of Sunday’s game.
At least one Bear, safety Jaquan Brisker, admitted, “We came off flat.”
Johnson didn’t see a need to chew them out or lift them up.
He said he trusts that he has a professional, prideful group.
“The role of the head coach is not to be a cheerleader,” Johnson said. “It’s to say it like it is. If something pops up and I feel like it needs to be said, then I say it.
“If I don’t, then we keep it moving.”