The Chicago Bears are 6-1 in their last seven games after Sunday's stunning rally to beat the New York Giants 24-20, but edging out a last-place team in Week 10 isn't Ben Johnson's idea of fun.
Well, to be fair, up until Johnson valmorphanizes into his, "GOOD BETTER BEST!" unhinged alter ego in the locker room, nothing seems fun for him on game days. That's because he's too busy being dialed in to develop quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense into a respectable outfit.
But Johnson can only do so much from the sidelines, via his headset and communicating with the players. It falls on them to execute, and they struggled in one basic area on Sunday that almost cost them a loss at home.
Ben Johnson dismisses concerns about Bears' dropped passes after win vs. Giants
Having established how much of a flat-line countenance Ben Johnson rocks on the sideline, it might not surprise you to learn that the Bears head coach didn't overreact to the myriad of drops Chicago pass-catchers had on Sunday.
Speaking to the media after the thrilling victory, Johnson wrote off the Bears' dropsies as a one-off, rather than a disturbing trend or ominous harbinger of what's to come.
"As of right now, I think it’s an anomaly," Johnson said in his postgame press conference. "I don’t think that’s really who we are."
Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic noted that PFF charted the Bears with six drops. This accounts for Williams' rather pedestrian stat line: 20 completions on 36 attempts (55.5%) for 220 yards and a TD.
Probably fair to take Johnson's assessment at face value. The anomalous activity that does deserve criticism, however, is how the Bears utilize their personnel on offense.
In what world does Olamide Zaccheaus deserve snaps over dynamic rookie Luther Burden III? Zaccheaus had three drops in Week 10, including a wide-open TD. All due respect to OZ (kind of, lol), we know what he is in the NFL. Any time Burden gets a chance to shine, he does so. Williams even made a point of this after the game, calling LB3 a "one-of-one."
DJ Moore got dinged up in the win over the G-Men and was held to zero catches. The larger concern is his tendency to absolutely loaf his way down the field on any given play, which is on full display every single week for anyone who watches closely, watches not-closely, or watches The QB School's breakdowns by J.T. O'Sullivan.
The film doesn't lie on Moore. Anyone with functional eyeballs and a modicum of ball knowledge can see the loafing tendencies plain as day.
Burden deserves more run than Moore at this point in time, too — on sheer effort alone. Moore also should've gotten his feet down in the end zone on a fourth-down, 40-yard laser throw by Williams. He did not. That should count amongst the drops as well in my humble opinion.
Speaking of rookies, how did it take so long for Johnson to figure out that Colston Loveland is, you know, more of a threat to defenses than Cole Kmet?
Nice to see Loveland flourish of late, though it took Kmet exiting with an injury against the Bengals in Week 9 for the first-round pick to get more looks in the passing game. Like if Kmet doesn't go down, does Loveland haul in that game-winning 58-yard touchdown? Mayhaps not.
Whereas some teams without a wizard of an offensive play-caller get burned by playing young pups at skill positions too soon, the future should be now in Chicago. Let Williams grow and cook with Rome Odunze, Loveland, and Burden as his three primary targets.
That is the elephant in the room the Bears and Johnson need to address. Not some transient drop problems.
Scary to think what Chicago could look like come December with its most talented playmakers in play more often for Williams as his development progresses.