Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears offense were excellent on Sunday night in San Francisco. They put up 31 points and over 400 total yards. That had not happened to the 49ers in over a month. Caleb Williams finished with 330 yards passing and two touchdowns. D'Andre Swift scored twice. Unfortunately, most people will be talking about the final play. Faced with two yards to go and four seconds left, the Bears had a chance to win the game. However, it seemed that something had gone wrong.
Williams couldn't find anybody open and was forced to scramble. His last throw to the end zone fell just short. Johnson spoke with the media after the game and didn't mince words. It wasn't that the 49ers' defense outsmarted them. Johnson didn't get the play call in fast enough.
"We didn't quite get aligned in the formation we wanted to. It's on me. I didn't give (Caleb Williams) the call fast enough, and so he's trying to piecemeal it together. I gotta do a better job on that."
By the time the call was in, most of the play clock had already ticked away. Williams didn't have time to read the defense and make the necessary adjustments. The quarterback confirmed this in his own presser a few minutes later.
"We ended up getting lined up with not much time (on the play clock). We were slightly lined up wrong. I didn't have enough time to be able to fix it. … We just had to try to make something out of nothing in that situation. And then we had a shot. With all of that going on, time running down, us misaligning, things like that. We had a shot, and (I've) just gotta give my guys a shot in that situation."
Ben Johnson continues to show maturity and leadership.
The Bears head coach was largely responsible for the team even being competitive in that game. Their defense was run over most of the evening, having no answers for Brock Purdy. Johnson needed to call a great game even to have a shot at winning. He did exactly that. It's unfortunate that one of his few mistakes happened on the last play of the game. That hasn't typically been the case most of this year. To his credit, he took full accountability for it. Such is the mark of a good leader.
Don't expect the Bears to dwell on this game. They had a shot. It didn't happen this time. That is the NFL. They have to move forward. They have the Detroit Lions next week. A win over them should clinch the #2 seed in the playoffs, which would guarantee at least two home games if they win their wild-card matchup. Not to mention Ben Johnson will have a chance at revenge against his old team after that 52-21 humiliation in September. It was a good learning experience for a young coach.
