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After Further Review

5 things we learned from Bears coach Ben Johnson in Week 5 loss

After Further Review 2026 Week 5 16x9 - 1W

After watching tape of Sunday's 31-7 loss in Green Bay, Bears coach Ben Johnson on Monday spoke to reporters virtually about what stood out:

(1) Johnson stressed the need for the Bears to correct the mistakes they made against the Packers ahead of Sunday's game in Atlanta.

"Not good enough execution in all three phases," he said. "We've got to be critical of ourselves, look in the mirror a little bit today and get that cleaned up and fixed. 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."

Asked what he was specifically referring to, Johnson said: "Run game, pass game wasn't what it was supposed to look like, and then cleaning up those explosive plays on defense."

The offense was limited to a season-low 246 yards and committed five turnovers.

"As a whole, our pass game wasn't clicking," Johnson said. "We couldn't get in rhythm offensively much at all. We had three three-and-outs and then the five turnovers, so not a whole lot was going right."

The defense permitted pass plays of 53, 50 and 46 yards.

"It's a collective deal going on," Johnson said. "When we win, we win as a team. When we lose, we lose as a team. I'll be the first one to shoulder the blame for anything that went on offensively, and then defensively, DA (Dennis Allen) is the same way. He'll be the first one to tell you when there's a bad call. But [there were] also 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."

(2) With running back Kyle Monangai sidelined due to a toe injury, the plan was to share the workload on the ground.

Running backs D'Andre Swift (9 for 43) and Roschon Johnson (5-6) and receivers Zavion Thomas (1-11), Luther Burden III (4-2) and Kalif Raymond (1-minus-2) all had rushing attempts Sunday.

"We kind of went into the game with a little bit less in the running back room than we normally do with Monangai being active and going," Johnson said, "and so [we were] looking to spread the load a little bit and didn't quite get as much out of that as we had hoped."

Swift averaged 4.8 yards per carry in Green Bay and scored the Bears' only touchdown on a 1-yard burst on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter.

"He brought it yesterday," Johnson said. "He ran hard with the opportunities that he was given. Once again, we just couldn't quite get in a rhythm in the run game or the passing game."

(3) Caleb Williams continues to make strides in his recovery from a hamstring injury that has forced him to miss the last three games.

"He's doing a great job progressing, and we'll see when we can make him available to help us win ball games," Johnson said. "But he's itching to get back as soon as he can, which is a good thing, and when we get the green light, we'll move forward from there."

After Sunday's game, Johnson discussed Williams' return, saying: "He's on track. We'll see if that's Atlanta or after. I think it's going to be close."

Asked whether Bagent or Keenum would operate the No. 1 offense in practice Wednesday if Williams is unable to, Johnson said Monday: "We're still working through that. No determination has been made in terms of what direction we're going. There are a lot of things that we're assessing right now."

(4) Johnson is confident that Bagent will learn from the two interceptions he threw Sunday.

"The first one wasn't where we wanted to go with the football," Johnson said. "There was a defender in the window. We'll look at those. We'll learn from them. And we'll keep it moving. He didn't make those same type of throws over the course of [training] camp, so we're looking at those, talking to him about it and we'll clean it up from there.

"They did a good job mixing up coverages and making things difficult and muddy for us. We can't put the ball in harm's way like we did with the two turnovers. Those are things that we'll get cleaned up here today and we'll move on from and learn from."

(5) The Bears will continue to monitor cornerback Kyler Gordon's recovery from a calf injury that has sidelined him since before the start of training camp.

Gordon remains on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, but he has been practicing since Sept. 30.

"I think mentally he's pretty sharp right now," Johnson said. "We're in the middle of this stress test, making sure that he's physically prepared to play in football games."

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