(Photo: 247Sports)
Ben Johnson heads back to his old stomping grounds on Sunday when the Chicago Bears head east to take on NFC North rivals the Detroit Lions.
The Bears have left behind the disappointment of last Monday's loss to the Minnesota Vikings, certainly in a public sense; however, Ben Johnson will be seething internally that he was unable to pick up a win in his first outing as a head coach.
"When we came in on Wednesday, we addressed the previous game and then we turned the page really quickly," Johnson said on Wednesday. "We've been all steam ahead on the Detroit Lions, and how do we beat this particular football team, and I haven't really seen any moping or anything like that in the meantime".
In a recent article, I mentioned that patience was required for the Bears offense, and I stand by that. But how can I state only days later that the Bears need to beat the Lions on Sunday at Ford Field, I hear you ask?
Well, let's start with the inevitable downtrodden perception of the season that will emerge should the Bears not only start off 0-2, but also start off 0-2 in divisional games.
With all the fanfare and optimistic highs of the off-season, a 0-2 start to the year would be accompanied by a devastating fall to Earth. That almighty thud would send an already impatient fanbase into a mad frenzy.
The Bears need this win to quiet the storm, however unjustified that storm may be right now.
We all know the vital importance of picking up wins against teams in your division due to the significance the results have in finishing strong in your division and making the postseason. How many teams with poor overall records have we witnessed winning their division and claiming their place in the playoffs over the years?
Of course, I'm not suggesting the NFC North is weak this year, but you just never know what twists and turns are ahead during the season, so getting those divisional games right is of paramount importance.
Let's also remember that statistically, teams that start off the season 0-2 very rarely go on to qualify for the playoffs. The percentage chance of winning the division is even less, and as for a Super Bowl appearance? Well, that's pretty much out of the question.
Now nobody outside of Halas Hall expects the Bears to reach the Super Bowl this year, let alone win it. That's not the point. The point is that the mere chance of it happening would be all but gone and we wouldn't even be mid-way through September.
Lastly, and maybe most significantly, the Bears need to win this game because Ben Johnson needs to win this game.
The man who ran one of the most successful offenses Detroit has seen in years, will be desperate to march into that game on Sunday and prove that he can produce a similar level of success with his new charges in Chicago.
Not only that, but given how poor the Lions' offense looked in their season opener, he'll want to show that he was one of, if not the biggest reasons for the success the offense experienced.
Saying all of that, a win is a win, no matter how it is achieved. That will be the most important thing for Johnson and the Bears.
Bears will need to improve in a few key areas
While we should and will have to be patient with this offense in terms of the way Johnson will want them to play, that doesn't mean to say that the Bears cannot just find a way to win, whatever it takes.
One area that can open up the offense more is the run game.
The Bears need a better run game after a bad start this season in the Week 1 loss to Minnesota. Chicago struggled on the ground and take out the yards that Caleb Williams had rushing and the number would be staggering. That should help the offense flow better as well.
Maybe one of the biggest improvements this team can make is to try to eradicate the pre-snap penalties. The Bears conceded 12 penalties for 127 lost yards last Monday. While those weren't all pre-snap penalties – and certainly at least one of them was contentious – that just isn't sustainable for a successful NFL team.
"Certainly, we haven't been good enough over the course of camp," Johnson said on the penalties. We haven't been good Week 1, and so this is going to be a huge point of emphasis for us going forward."
If Chicago wants a win in Week 2, they need to start with cleaning up the penalties and getting that offense on the same page
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