Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson has admitted to making several errors during the team’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.
Johnson, in his first game as the Bears’ head coach, has faced scrutiny for multiple decisions during the closing stages of the game, which saw the Bears run out of time on a comeback attempt as the final horn sounded.
The first came in the third quarter when Johnson challenged that Vikings tight end TJ Hockenson had fumbled the ball after a pass completion at the Vikings’ 25-yard line. The call on the field that Hockenson was down by contact was upheld, costing the Bears a key timeout.
“I thought that I saw knees up (by the ball carrier). So, that’s on me,” Johnson said during a press conference Tuesday. “I have to do a better job of listening to the guys up top (in the booth). I get influenced a little bit, for the first time, with the people around me, I have to stay true to the process.”
Johnson also faced intense scrutiny for his decision-making after the Bears scored a late fourth quarter touchdown to cut Minnesota’s lead to 27-24. Instead of having kicker Cairo Santos kick the ball out of bounds, which would have triggered an illegal procedure penalty and given the Vikings the ball at the 40-yard line with 2:02 remaining, Johnson had Santos attempt to boot the ball through the end zone, but it was returned to the 26-yard-line by Ty Chandler, bringing the block down to 1:55.
By missing the two-minute warning, the Bears were only able to stop the clock once, and the Vikings bled all but nine seconds off the clock to preserve their victory.
Johnson said he should have had Santos kick the ball out of bounds, a decision that would have only cost the Bears five yards and would have kept the clock at 2:02 remaining.
“At the end of the game, I felt like we could kick it out of the back (of the end zone), we weren’t able to get that done. In hindsight, I should’ve kicked it out of bounds,” he said.
The Bears raced out to a 7-0 lead after their first drive when Caleb Williams ran in a nine-yard touchdown, but their offense largely sputtered for the remainder of the game as the Vikings scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to pull off a 27-24 stunner at Soldier Field.
Johnson will have a short week to try to get his team ready for their next game, as they’ll head to Detroit to take on his former team on Sunday, battling the Lions at Ford Field.
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