Ben Johnson calls Bears' starting offense "really sloppy" in preseason finale

Friday night’s preseason game ended well for the Bears. It did not start well, specifically in the estimation of coach Ben Johnson.

“Offensively, the first two possessions was really sloppy football that has plagued us in and out of camp so far, and unfortunately that’s what we got here tonight,” Johnson said after the game, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com.

Both of the initial drives for the Bears ended in punts, one after three plays and the next after six. The Chiefs, in contrast, scored 10 points.

“It is disappointing to me offensively for sure,” Johnson added. “I thought that we had worked our way out of that.”

They have 16 days to work their way into form for a Week 1 Monday night visit from the Vikings.

“If the first quarter [against the Chiefs] was really any indication, it’s not good enough, so we got to get better in a hurry,” Johnson said. “Good news is we will be able to look at this tape and coach it up with our guys and I think it’s out of our system hopefully for us going into the regular season. We got to make sure that we start faster on offense and on defense.”

After hosting the Vikings, the Bears visit the Lions before facing the Cowboys and the Raiders. Chicago has a Week 5 bye.

"[W]e might have to ebb and flow a little bit after that opening game,” Johnson said. “Usually it’ll take up until the bye week. I think it’s placed at just the right time to really identify who we are and what we’re going to be for the rest of the season.”

No one really knows what any team is going to be this year, not until the real games begin. Sure, the great teams from last year will likely at least stay very good. For everyone else it’s a fascinating, and at times frustrating, week-at-a-time crapshoot.

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