While trying to remain positive amid an 0-2 start, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson isn't tiptoeing around the fact that his team has to improve fast with the Dallas Cowboys galloping to town on Sunday.
After two straight losses to start his Bears tenure, the last one in blowout fashion, Johnson isn't messing around anymore.
It starts on the practice field where Johnson said, "I think our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship caliber team."
"We should be going to the football, finishing hard. We talk about it all the time with the offensive players that our fundamentals, our finish, and our technique, they need to show up in walkthrough, they need to show up on the practice field. That's how it shows up on game day," he said.
Players said the intensity at Wednesday's practice, which lasted more than two hours, was definitely at another level.
"We definitely went out there and strained. We was out there for a long time, but definitely enjoyed it. The guys came back with a great mindset. All we can do is just put our head down, move forward, and make sure nothing like this happens ever again," cornerback Tyrique Stevenson said.
"The intensity was there. Ben spoke about it after. He was happy with the way practice went today, I believe," quarterback Caleb Williams said. "Obviously, when you have the kind of setbacks, per se, that we've had, being 0-2 at the point that we're at, you can't keep doing same thing over and over and think something's going to change."
Safety Jaquan Brisker said Johnson has been locked in and serious like he usually is, but he's also bringing a lot more urgency, and making sure players know the time to go is now.
More will be needed from Brisker, Stevenson and others in the secondary. Johnson wouldn't confirm reports that Jaylon Johnson could be out for the season, but he's definitely out this week. Nickel corner Kyler Gordon and linebacker TJ Edwards are week-to-week with hamstring injuries.
Also, running back D'Andre Swift was among a handful of players limited in practice. He's dealing with a quad issue.
With former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus coming back to town as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator on Sunday, Johnson said he's not worried about him having inside information on how to attack Williams and the offense.
"We've got guys in the building that know how his mind works, and so we have some information on just schematically how he liked to approach my offense in general, and his feelings on Caleb. So I feel like we know what he knows, and we'll be just fine there," he said.
Williams didn't seem concerned about facing his former coach, either.
"He coached me, and he had tendencies himself, and I had tendencies myself, and I think I've grown, and he's probably grown as a d-coordinator. So just being able to, like I say, go in there and adjust," he said.
Matt Zahn
Matt Zahn joined CBS2 Chicago in October 2016 as a sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor, and what a time to come to Chicago. Matt arrived just as the Cubs won the World Series.