Bears-Bengals joint practice exposed how Ben Johnson's hefty goal will happen

The Chicago Bears' offense in 2025 was among one of the best in the NFL.

They were sixth in the NFL in total offense, putting up 369.2 yards per game, third in rushing with 144.5 yards per game, 10th in passing with 225.1 yards per game, and ninth in scoring with 25.9 points per contest. Bears head coach Ben Johnson has already made it known he is gunning for the Denver Broncos' NFL record for points per game, as they averaged 37.9 per game.

There are fewer questions about how good the offense can be, but many still don't see how it could become elite like that. Chicago's joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals may have shown the key to unlocking it.

Bears' offense showed Bengals how Ben Johnson's 2026 goal will be achieved

During the Bears-Bengals joint practice, one focus was the offense in the red zone. The Athletic's Kevin Fishbain said the Bears dominated the Bengals' defense in that session.

"Strong red-zone session for the Bears’ first-team offense against the Bengals. Caleb Williams threw touchdowns to Colston Loveland, Kalif Raymond and Kaden Davis. Looked sharp."

This is an area where the Bears were good last year, but they could get better, too. Last year, they ranked 12th in the NFL, scoring touchdowns in 58.2% of their red zone trips. The Philadelphia Eagles were first with 70.5%.

Imagine the Bears increasing that by 12.3% in 2026 and what that could do for the offense. That would easily get them over the 30-point-per-game mark in 2026 and make them one of the top offenses in the league.

Everyone knows this is just a small part of what the Bears could do to improve on offense. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was asked about the offense's performance in the joint practice with the Bengals, with the star signal-caller pointing out some things to work on.

"I'd say we just gotta clean up, you know, the penalties," Williams said via CHGO. "I think that was, you know, the first, I'd say 90% of practice, just we cleaned up those. We had some pretty big explosive plays, and it looks and feels different. I would say I haven't been able to watch it yet. So don't know for sure, but that's how it felt at least out there. And then in the situations, just gotta be better, whether it's myself and protecting football or front or wide receivers or all of us. It's a combination of all of us being able to go out there and execute. And it's going to be a focus point for us for sure."

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No doubt cleaning up small mistakes will help, but getting valuable points in the red zone, not settling for field goals or scoring, and converting fourth downs is key. The Bears showed in the Bengals' joint practice that they can use the red zone to their advantage and reach the big goals Johnson has for them.

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