Byard leads the league with five interceptions. Wright, Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd are tied for second with four each. The Bears are the first NFL team to have three players with at least four interceptions in its first 10 games of a season since the 2011 Packers. The last Bears team to do it was the 1985 Super Bowl champions.
"It's a credit to those guys that when they do get the ball in their hands, they are bringing it in," Johnson said. "That's not a given in this league. You would think it is, but defensive players in general, I've been around a number of them that they do a good job with the pass breakups, but not being able to haul it in.
"\[The Bears trio does\] a great job with their ball skills, being able to make those into interceptions. The length of those guys certainly helps, between 'Shonny' and Tremaine in particular. They're really long-limbed and that gives them a natural advantage there. And 'KB' has got some of the best instincts I've been around at that safety position. He's just got a really good feel for where he can almost bait the quarterbacks into putting the ball in jeopardy. That comes with experience, but he's also just a darned good football player and he has been his entire career."
Johnson also credited the pass rush for helping to create the takeaways.
"I don't know that KB gets that interception if Grady Jarrett's really not in the lap of the quarterback there for that one," Johnson said. "You've always got to take that into context also. I know those guys don't get those stats necessarily in terms of the sacks when those things occur, yet they're a big part of why that ball is being put in play like that."
**(3) Johnson was just as happy that the Bears did not commit any turnovers as he was with the defense's two takeaways.**
It enabled the Bears to improve their turnover margin to a league-best plus-16. No other team has better than a plus-10 differential.
Williams did not throw an interception for the third straight game, the sixth time this season and the 19th time since he joined the Bears last year, the second most such games behind the Eagles' Jalen Hurts (20) during that span.
"The best thing he did was he kept the ball out of harm's way," Johnson said. "He did a great job protecting that football. I can't say enough good things about their defense in terms of how they create turnovers. All these forced fumbles, it's by design. It's very deliberate by them. I thought our whole crew did a great job taking care of that football. And then Caleb in particular did a good job throwing the ball away when things weren't present. That was good to see."
Williams completed 16 of 32 passes for 193 yards and a 68.9 passer rating and rushed for 26 yards on four carries. He rebounded after being unable to complete long third-down passes to receivers Rome Odunze and D.J. Moore on the Bears' first two possessions of the game.
"We had a couple opportunities there to really get some big plays potentially down the field," Johnson said. "We didn't capitalize on those. Those are a couple that you'd like to have back. But all-in-all, I thought that he played a pretty solid football game."
**(4) Johnson felt that tight end Cole Kmet delivered one of his best performances of the season.**
The sixth-year pro caught a season-high five passes on five targets for 45 yards.
"He did a nice job," Johnson said. "We came into this game wanting to be very completion driven, and yet when you look at the stat sheet we weren't as high completion percentage as we would like to be, or as efficient. There's a number of reasons for that, but I do think that \[Williams\] getting quickly to Cole was what we wanted to see in this game. That was by design."
Johnson was impressed with one play where Williams saw that a deep route was covered and was "quick to throw him a good runner's ball on the sideline … and he turned it into a 6-7-yard gain."
"A couple of those hurry up plays, it's the same thing," Johnson added. "They're bringing those corner pressures, so they're leaving the flats unattended and he's recognizing that quickly and getting the ball out and allowing Cole to run with it. I thought Cole played one of his best games he has so far this year."
Kmet also excelled at blocking and energizing the offense.
"I get that he caught a couple more balls, but I'm not even talking about that," Johnson said. "He was great in the running game. And then in pass pro, we put him in some tough matchups there on some of their defensive end and outside linebacker types, and I thought he did an outstanding job throughout that. And then, when he was a ball carrier, you felt his presence out there. He was lowering his shoulder. He was stiff-arming. He brought our sideline to life a couple times."