After watching tape of Sunday night's 42-38 loss to the 49ers, Bears coach Ben Johnson on Monday spoke to reporters virtually about four things that stood out to him:
(1) Johnson praised the entire offense for Caleb Williams' touchdown passes of 35 yards to Luther Burden III and 36 yards to Colston Loveland.
Burden was one of three options on his TD, which came late in the first quarter. Seeing that the rookie receiver had a step on safety Ji'Ayir Brown, Williams lofted the ball over the defender, hitting Burden in stride in the end zone.
"It was more of a layered concept there," Johnson said. "We had Colston low, we had DJ [Moore] in the middle and then Luther was high. They just dropped him a little bit and he got a step on him. It was great for Caleb to see that.
"I thought the protection was outstanding. It was a drop-back pass where you're holding it for a good seven-step timing there from the gun. [We] needed to make sure you had plenty of time and I thought those guys did it up front. That's really the key to the play, in my opinion, to give Caleb enough time to get that ball out. Outstanding throw, outstanding catch."
Williams' TD pass to Loveland came on a free play in the second quarter—after the 49ers had jumped offside and drawn a penalty flag. The second-year quarterback rolled to his right and fired a laser beam to the rookie tight end in the end zone.
"It was just really well executed by the entire offense," Johnson said. "We walk through those plays, the early plays in the game, that morning for a night game like that. We kind of talked it through that we would work a hard cadence on that particular play, and if they jumped then we wanted to take a shot.
"It was really well done. Colston broke off his route when he felt Caleb extend the play a little bit. Guys up front, they kind of felt the D-line go slack a little bit, which can be the tendency at times on free plays, and so Caleb was able to find a little bit of extra time and threw a great ball down the field. Once again, he has these throws every week that you're just like, 'I don't know how many quarterbacks in the NFL can really do that on a regular basis.'"
(2) Johnson has seen Williams and Loveland strengthen their cohesiveness throughout the season.
Their rapport was particularly evident when the two connected for a 32-yard completion down the left sideline in the fourth quarter.
"They've got a lot of time on task now at this point," Johnson said. "They spend a lot of time after practice perfecting their craft just the two of them and it's really starting to pay off for us.
"Really accurate ball there by Caleb. He had to put that ball right on the money. I thought the linebacker did a nice job rallying and making it a contested play and yet Colston's length really showed up. You put that ball out in front, he runs right through it. He's like a big wideout in a lot of ways, and you see him blocking and it's like he's a sixth lineman sometimes as well. He's doing a phenomenal job for us and he's just going to continue to get better and better."
(3) Johnson revealed that any improvements that need to be made on defense in preparation for the playoffs start with fundamentals.
The Bears allowed the 49ers to score six touchdowns, compile 496 total yards and 32 first downs and convert 7-of-10 third-down opportunities.
"It always comes back to fundamentals, so it's gap integrity in terms of the run defense," Johnson said. "We were playing a really good offense. I do think that has to be stated because they're averaging about 35 points over the last five weeks. So they're hot.
"I didn't feel like our offense did our part in the first half. We did not possess the ball. We had a couple three-and-outs. You look at our defense and they got a pick-six, they got a couple punts, and if we bow up in the red zone, I think we feel better about their performance. That's not to take anything away from San Fran; they did a great job, but there are certainly things fundamentally that we can improve on and we're going to look to address this week."
(4) Johnson feels confident with the players on offense to call anything in the playbook at this juncture of the season.
One example was the hook-and-ladder on the Bears' second-to-last play. On second-and-10 from the San Francisco 13, Williams threw over the middle to Loveland, who pitched the ball to D'Andre Swift heading toward the right sideline. Swift was tackled at the 2 and Williams followed by spiking the ball to kill the clock with :04 remaining.
"We've taken the training wheels off," Johnson said. "These guys are doing a phenomenal job coming into the building each week and taking a plan and bringing it to life. I can't say enough good things about whether they're rookies, undrafted, veteran players, it doesn't matter who it is on offense right now, but they've really bought into how we go about our business.
"The precision on a play like that is really the starting point. It's been something that we've done all year long and we haven't felt good enough to call it in a game. And then we see it this week in practice, it gives you confidence. Obviously, I'm not happy with the result. I would have loved to have scored a touchdown, would have loved to get it out of bounds. And yet I think the guys did a pretty good job with the execution of the play."
