The Bears enter December as the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff race, but they aren't concentrating on anything but Sunday's battle for first place in Green Bay.
"We have not been guaranteed a spot in the tournament yet," coach Ben Johnson said Monday. "We have to earn that right. And the only way you can earn that right is by finding a way to win the next game. That's where our sole focus is."
The Bears (9-3) will visit the Packers (8-3-1) at Lambeau Field with first place in the NFC North at stake. Winners of five straight and nine of 10 games, Johnson's team catapulted into the top spot in the conference Sunday when the Rams lost to the Panthers. But that won't distract the Bears from the task at hand.
"The emphasis has always been: 'We're just looking to win the next game,'" Johnson said. "Just like I told the group this morning: the job is not done. We haven't accomplished anything yet. We're at nine wins and this year I think you're probably going to have to get to 11 to make it into the tournament. That's what we need to do. We've got to get there first. We've got to find a way to get there and the only way to do that is find a way to be 1-0 this week."
Johnson appreciates how experienced Bears players have bought into that philosophy and conveyed it to their younger teammates.
"We've got some good veteran leadership," he said. "They help control that narrative there in the locker room. There's no question in my mind that they won't let the fact that we've won nine games go to anybody's head … Our guys are going to understand that there's a lot of ball left to be played, and we've got to continue to get better if we want to continue the course that we've charted for ourselves."
Sixth-year tight end Cole Kmet told reporters that Bears players are kept locked in exclusively on their upcoming game due to "the way the coaches approach it."
"They're always onto the next thing," Kmet said. "Obviously, they acknowledge the good things that happen, but it's always about fixing the mistakes we had in the previous game, win or lose."
That was the case Monday morning when Johnson met with the offense to discuss improving the pass game.
"That was a little bit of the weak link here the past few weeks," Kmet said. "We know that part of the game offensively needs to take a step forward if we want to be a legitimate threat here down the stretch. It's always about improvement and focusing on the next step and I think guys have really bought into that kind of mindset each and every day."
Johnson was candid, as usual, when discussing the pass game with reporters.
"The primary receiver, when he's open, we've got to make sure we hit him," Johnson said. "And then all of our pass catchers—we just harped on it today—we need to be more disciplined in our route detail. It's not where it needs to be. Our depth's not proper all the time. Our steps [aren't]. Everybody's got a role to play to get this pass game cleaned up. We're winning in spite of our passing game, not because of it, and none of us are pleased with that right now."
Kmet likes how Johnson handles making corrections.
"What coach does a really good job of is he starts the meeting off by showing three or four plays from the past four weeks that he feels like he gave us a bad play call on, so he's putting accountability on himself there," Kmet said.
"And then from there he's showing each and every one of us there's always an example of one of us—whether it's a receiver, tight end, running back—within the pass game where we need to be better in our route precision and things like that. And then obviously Caleb [Williams] had areas where he feels like he can be better.
"It's definitely a collective effort and we keep addressing issues. Ben keeps bringing up the issues and I think guys take the coaching really well."
