LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Coach Ben Johnson delivered a blunt assessment of his team Wednesday after an 0-2 start has the new-look Chicago Bears appearing like teams of old.
"I think our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship-caliber team," Johnson said.
The Detroit Lions handed the Bears a 52-21 loss in Week 2 after the Minnesota Vikings stormed back in the fourth quarter of the season opener to erase Chicago's 11-point lead and leave with a 27-24 win.
Johnson felt the Lions played "harder" than the Bears, which he said reflected poorly on him, his coaching staff and players. Earlier in the week after rewatching Chicago's loss in Detroit, Johnson said that the Bears would have more competition in practice and find out "who wants to practice hard and who wants to be a little bit more involved with the game plan here going into Sunday."
Since he was hired by the Bears in January, Johnson has routinely championed accountability and holding players to a high standard. His attention to detail and the challenges it created for players to master in training camp was a storyline throughout July and August.
With Chicago in an 0-2 hole after back-to-back losses to NFC North opponents, Johnson does not feel that his team is reaching its potential, beginning with how it prepares for games.
"We should be going to the football, finishing hard," Johnson said. "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 walk-through, they need to show up on the practice field. That's how it shows up on game day. Simple things of how do we properly block? How do we catch the ball? How do we block after the catch? Ball security and things like that. It's the little things that you learn in youth league football that even at this level, they make a huge difference."
After Johnson's news conference, the Bears spent two hours and 15 minutes on the practice fields behind Halas Hall on Wednesday on an unseasonably warm September afternoon where temperatures crept into the 80s.
"It was exactly what we needed," rookie tight end Colston Loveland told ESPN. "Talking about finish, effort, competing, just doing everything that they want to see out of us. I felt like it was a really good practice."
Johnson's critiques are things players have grown used to throughout the offseason. The level of honesty Loveland has received from his head coach and the things Johnson publicly accepted responsibility for is what Loveland appreciates.
"I wouldn't want it any other way," Loveland said. "I don't think anyone would. You got to smell the BS and whatever's going on and you got to announce it and hold everyone accountable. I love that he's doing that and we could all definitely get better from that."
Quarterback Caleb Williams was vocal during his rookie season about wanting to be coached harder and be held accountable for his mistakes. He said that he and Johnson have had conversations about his role in setting the tone for increased intensity at practice and the changes that needed to take place after a disappointing start to the season.
"We gotta keep going, we gotta keep pushing and obviously when you have setbacks, per se, that we've had, being 0-2 at the point we're at, you can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and think something's going to change," Williams said. "I think that's the definition for insanity. And so we've got to change and today's practice I think was a step in the right direction."
Asked specifically what needs to change in practice to carry over to games, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson pointed to the team's mindset. After the Bears' defense allowed 73 points in the past five quarters, learning how to match their opponent's intensity and play at that same level for an entire game is the focus as Chicago prepares to welcome Dallas to Soldier Field in Week 3.
"I would just say the effort and the want to," Stevenson said. "That takes you a long way with this game. It's just got to show up on the practice field, straining when you're tired, or when your legs are weak, making sure you push through or stopping the ball. Do the little things over and over and over and eventually you'll get there."