The most disconcerting loss of Ben Johnson’s Bears career had everything Sunday — an offense that never found its rhythm, a defense that got beat by the deep ball and every turn and a special teams unit that missed its only field goal. There was a way-too-late quarterback switch and a pass rush that popped up for one out of 60 minutes.
The Bears never led, spending more than half the time trailing by two touchdowns in a game they’d lose 31-7. They committed five turnovers for the first time in three years to lose their sixth regular-season NFC North game in eight tries dating to last year. Bears players had their words thrown in their faces by the Packers, whose season was revived — saved? — on a day when their rival could have put them in their rear-view mirror. Even the postgame showers were cold, but just in the visitor’s locker room.
Johnson spent Monday trying to sort through what happened.
“We’ve got to be critical of ourselves, look in the mirror a little bit [Monday] and get that cleaned up and fixed,” Johnson said. “We’ve had some good meetings already. Looking forward to cleaning up our mess and fixing everything we need to fix as we prepare for Atlanta.”
What a mess it was.
“It’s run game, pass game — [it]wasn’t what it was supposed to look like,” Johnson said. “And then cleaning up those explosive plays on defense.”
Fixing it will be the fiercest challenge of the season for Johnson, if not the fiercest challenge of his young coaching career. Before Sunday, his hardest loss as a head coach was the 31-point shellacking the Bears took from the Lions in his Ford Field homecoming last year. But that was in just his second game as a head coach, when no one expected his scheme or style to be fully formed.
The blowout Sunday came with the Bears favored to win at Lambeau for the first time in 20 years. Expectations were different. The disappointment was greater.
Humiliation at the hands of the Packers is a problem his predecessors haven’t had to confront in years. Matt Eberflus never lost by such a margin at Lambeau. Neither did Matt Nagy or John Fox. In fact, the last time the Bears were so outclassed in Green Bay was a 55-14 loss in 2014 that sent coach Marc Trestman down the road to unemployment.
No one is suggesting Johnson is on that path. The Bears won the NFC North last year, and he deserves credit for leading them to consecutive victories this season with two different backup quarterbacks. It was clear after their wins over the Eagles and Jets that the star on offense was the offense itself — and the man calling the plays.
But the reason the offense sputtered so greatly Sunday was the same man.
The Bears’ quarterback play will improve soon enough, whether starter Caleb Williams returns Sunday against the Falcons or the following Thursday against the Patriots. But the same can’t be said for a defense that has given up 68 points over two games this season but just 28 points over the other three.
Johnson took responsibility for the offensive play-calling and said coordinator Dennis Allen did the same for the defense after his unit allowed Packers quarterback Jordan Love to throw for 367 yards.
“He’ll be the first one to tell you when there’s a bad call,” Johnson said. “But also [there were] a combination of bad rushes mixed in there. And bad coverage mixed in there. So. really, all three things showed up over the course of the game.”
To paraphrase something Fox said years ago: It was all a problem.
The worst part is whom it was against — and how that affects the Bears’ postseason chances. They went 2-4 in the North last season and still found a way to win it. That won’t happen again. At 3-2, they have the same record as the Packers and Lions but are last in the North because they’ve lost both of their divisional games. The Vikings, who many thought were the worst team in the division, are 5-0.
The Packers knew what was at stake Sunday, beyond just bragging rights.
“Against an NFC North opponent, against the Bears, we needed this one,” Love said.
The easiest path to the playoffs is to beat up on your division. However, since Johnson took over, the Vikings are 6-2 against division opponents in the regular season, the Packers 5-3 and the Lions and Bears 2-6.
Johnson has won just 25% of his regular-season division games, the same as Trestman did. He could win his next five and still have a worse divisional winning percentage than Nagy did the day he was fired.
As a head coach, Johnson has been outscored by 66 points in eight games against the Packers, Lions and Vikings. Outside the division, he’s 12-2, outscoring opponents by 115 points.
Sunday stung, then, for reasons that go beyond the 214 games in the Bears-Packers rivalry.
Johnson won’t have a chance to improve his divisional record until Thanksgiving in Detroit. By then, he might have new problems to fix.
“We’re a 3-2 football team,” he said. “The part that stinks is that we’re 0-2 in the division right now. So we dug ourselves in a hole.”
Ben Johnson’s loss was disconcerting for reasons that go beyond the Packers rivalry 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-10-13 04:53:18
Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
