The Chicago Bears didn't play well in their wild card game against the Green Bay Packers but one big problem was Ben Johnson and his questionable play calling. Simply put, Johnson tried to get way too cute with his play calling and it hurt the team in a big way.
The Bears were aggressive in trying to go for it on fourth down and that's fine! We love aggressiveness. The problem is that Johnson was not calling plays that gave the Bears the best chance of converting. He continued to have Caleb Williams throw the ball rather than run it and didn't seem to learn from those mistakes.
Johnson also kept trying to get cute in other ways too with the play calling, including trying to have D.J. Moore run with the ball. That hasn't worked all year so why did he think that now, with the Bears' season on the line, this was the time to try it?
Al Michaels, who was calling the game on Prime, didn't shy away from slamming the Bears head coach for his quirky play calling. He dropped an absolute dime of a quote in the third quarter after the Bears had turned the ball over on downs after another failed fourth down attempt.
"Sometimes terminal cuteness can do you in," Michaels said on the broadcast.
Al Michaels slams Ben Johnson for overthinking at the worst possible time
Bears fans were over the cutesy calls from Johnson almost instantly. While, yes, this is something we all knew about Johnson when he became the head coach of the team, when these types of calls aren't working, then it's time to abandon them and go in a different direction.
Johnson insisting on continuing to call these weird plays could end up doing the Bears in and being the reason why their season comes to a close. Hopefully, he learns from these mistakes and can call plays that will lead to touchdowns and a Bears win.