**(4) Johnson lauded a Bears run defense that limited the Patriots to 70 yards on 17 carries. Last Sunday, the unit held NFL leading rusher Bijan Robinson to a season-low 61 yards on nine attempts in a win over the Falcons.**
"It starts with technique and fundamentals, and that's something that we've been harping on up front from the springtime," Johnson said. "I think we continue to improve in terms of our strike and our shed and our ability to bottle up and not create running lanes. We're setting the edge a little bit better as a defense, better than maybe we were to start the season.
"And then we talked about the playstyle. I think that's really what it comes down to. We want all 11 defenders in the frame at the end of the play. And when that happens, normally we have a pretty good run defense. We're going to continue to harp on those things.
"Schematically, 'DA' (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) is doing a good job. He's always conscious of making sure that we're protected from explosive pass plays over the top of us. But at the same time, we want to knock teams off schedule as much as we can and slow down their running game so that these second-and-long, these third-down situations, that's really right in our wheelhouse."
**(5) Moving forward, the defense will look to correct the miscues it made on the final play of the first half that resulted in a Patriots touchdown.**
With :03 remaining and the ball at the Bears' 48, quarterback Drake Maye dumped off a short pass to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who weaved through the defense for a touchdown that closed the gap to 20-14.
"There was some execution that we felt like, in terms of the rush, we need to be cleaner on," Johnson said. "It's one of those things, you work these situational plays so much over the course of camp, so much in the walkthroughs leading up into a game. It gets coached. It gets talked about. We rep it. We do it full speed over the course of the year. We do it slow. And so when that moment comes, we have to be at our best, and we simply weren't.
"We've got to continue to coach it better. And then at the end of the day, it's still about rallying to the football and making sure in the case like that, we find a way to get that ballcarrier down."