How Ben Johnson’s ‘Stumblebum’ came together

Bears’ fans, it’s okay, we can reflect on the play because Ben Johnson is ours now.

In last year’s Week 16 game, Caleb Williams hit Keenan Allen in the waning seconds of the first half to pull the Chicago Bears within 13 points of the Detroit Lions. Detroit missed a long field goal as the second quarter ended, and the teams went into the locker room with the score 27 to 14.

The Lions got the ball to start the third quarter, and their offense picked up where it left off, moving 43 yards in four plays, with a Chicago penalty mixed in, and they had a first and ten from the Bears’ 21-yard line.

And then Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called Stumblebum.

Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff took the snap from under center, feigned a stumble on his dropback, stood tall, and hit a wide-open Sam LaPorta for a touchdown.

For as disheartening as it was for Bears’ fans, it had to have the opposite effect on Lions’ fans.

I know, I know, that play sucked.

But now that Ben Johnson is wearing the Navy and Orange, I think it’s okay to look back on it and wonder what type of pizazz he’ll cook up at Halas Hall.

Check out Goff explaining how the play came about in this clip from Netflix’s Quarterback Season 2.