Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson said Monday he didn’t believe wide receiver DJ Moore was the answer on the fourth-down interception that quarterback Caleb Williams threw in the final minute of Sunday’s 28-21 loss in Green Bay.
“I think he came open more after the ball was released from Caleb,” Johnson said of Moore.
Williams threw the ball to tight end Cole Kmet in the end zone, but the pass was underthrown and the Packers’ Keisean Nixon intercepted it.
Here are three takeaways from Johnson after watching the game tape.
1. Caleb Williams needed to throw to Cole Kmet sooner.
Trailing by a touchdown, the Bears faced fourth-and-1 at the Packers 14-yard line with the game on the line. Johnson called a play-action rollout for Williams, something that the Bears have been successful with throughout the season and that frustrated Green Bay throughout Sunday’s game.
The Bears had found some success running the ball in the fourth quarter, and the hope was the Packers would bite on the fake handoff to running back D’Andre Swift. That’s exactly what happened, and it left Kmet wide open downfield.
After the fake, Williams rolled to his left and was a beat or two late throwing Kmet the ball. His toss toward the end zone came up short and landed in Nixon’s hands to essentially end the game.
Moore was running a shorter route just past the line to gain in an area that would’ve given the Bears a first down, but Johnson said the tape showed Moore popping open after Williams was throwing the football.
“Yeah, I didn’t see him as being the answer in that time,” Johnson said. “Nixon was man-to-man with DJ and was trailing him and ended up falling off and making a play on Cole. So it was a good play by Nixon, and yet I still don’t think — if we get the spacing right and all that and a good ball — that he’s going to be able to cover both of those players like that.”
As he said immediately after the game, Johnson reiterated that the play had multiple options. It was all about seeing whom the Packers left unattended. If all else failed, Williams could’ve tried to run for the first down.
Kmet was open, the throw was just late.
“Had we seen it a little bit sooner and given Cole a better chance, I think we would have been pretty happy with that result,” Johnson said. “I still feel the same way I did last night on that play.”
Even though Williams was running to his left, he said after the game it shouldn’t have been a difficult throw to make.
“Just got to give Cole a better shot at it,” Williams said. “Next time, just extend him a little bit more and kind of lead him.”
2. Ben Johnson didn’t want to give the Packers the ball again.
The Bears’ final possession began with 3:26 on the clock. Williams completed passes of 27 yards to Luther Burden III and 24 to Devin Duvernay to bring the offense to the Green Bay 23-yard line at the two-minute warning.
Johnson then called three consecutive running plays for rookie Kyle Monangai, the last of which went for no gain on third-and-1. He let the clock run after the first two plays before using his first timeout prior to the fourth-and-1 play.
Johnson was intentional in his decision to let the clock run. His counterpart, Matt LaFleur — who had two timeouts remaining — let it run too.
“You get the ball back with 3:30 and you’ve got a decision to make,” Johnson said. “Do we go as fast as we can, and if we stall out, we get another possession potentially? Or do we go ahead and let this one be the last one? And we went with the latter. I felt really good about that.”
Johnson pointed out that Jordan Love and the Packers had scored touchdowns on four of eight possessions. He didn’t want to give the Packers any time to answer if the Bears scored.
“Let me say this: The first thing we needed to do was score a touchdown,” Johnson said. “But the last thing we wanted to do as well was give them enough time to respond because of how dangerous they had been on offense. Best-case scenario would have been scoring a touchdown with under 30 seconds.”
3. Kyler Gordon’s injury troubles are ‘disappointing.’
Gordon’s pregame groin injury put the Bears at a disadvantage. It was unfortunate timing, coming after the inactive players were announced. The Bears had no choice but to begin the game with one fewer available player than the Packers.
Johnson didn’t provide an update on Gordon’s health Monday, other than to say “we’ll see how it goes from here on out.”
Gordon has appeared in only three games this season because of injuries. The Bears gave him a three-year, $40 million contract extension over the offseason that will keep him in Chicago through 2028.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson again filled in at the nickel cornerback spot, but the Bears missed Gordon’s speed — particularly on Christian Watson’s 41-yard touchdown on which he beat Gardner-Johnson by a step.
Asked if his patience is wearing thin with regard to Gordon’s injuries, Johnson said, “It’s disappointing.”
“I wish I had a better feel for the individual, but with him being out as much as he has, I haven’t really gotten to see him on the field and competing and get to know him like I’d like to at this point yet,” Johnson said. “I do know that the biggest predictor of a soft-tissue injury is having a previous one, and he’s kind of in this rut right now that we’re not able to get out of.
“So we’re going to exhaust all of our resources in and outside of the building to make sure we’re addressing it and doing what we can to get him back and healthy again.”