Ben Johnson’s homecoming spoiled by Bears’ ugly loss to Lions: ‘It’s a kick in the teeth’

DETROIT — By the time coach Ben Johnson arrived at his postgame news conference late Sunday afternoon, he already had time to process the stunning beatdown his Chicago Bears took Sunday at Ford Field, a 52-21 loss to the Detroit Lions that somehow didn’t even feel that close.

The Bears trailed by at least two scores the entire second half. Their deficit ballooned past 20 points midway through the third quarter. And by the time the Lions faced fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line with eight minutes remaining, Johnson knew exactly what was coming.

A Detroit field goal attempt? No chance in hell.

Even with the Lions already ahead by 24 points, Johnson’s former boss, Dan Campbell, had his foot on the gas with the brake pedal out of order. Naturally, the Lions took one more opportunity to drive right over the already flattened Bears at full speed, using quarterback Jared Goff’s fifth touchdown pass — and his third to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown — to deliver a message.

“What’s he supposed to do?” Johnson said with a matter-of-fact tone. “It’s fourth-and-goal. What do you want him to do? Yeah, he could have kicked a field goal. But they don’t kick field goals. They go for it. So he was doing what he’s supposed to do.”

That decision and result were so routine for the two-time defending NFC North champions that almost no one in the Lions locker room talked about it, just business as usual for a top-tier team that rebounded from a 0-1 start with purpose Sunday.

The Bears, meanwhile? After that kind of mauling?

“Man,” Johnson said, “it’s a kick in the teeth. Nothing about that feels good.”

Send any prosthodontist recommendations to Halas Hall. Full-mouth reconstruction might be in order for the Bears after Sunday.

Johnson couldn’t have imagined a worse homecoming to the city where his coaching career took off, an absolute mauling by the offense he used to guide. The Lions rolled up 511 total yards, the fifth-highest total allowed by the Bears in the post-Lovie Smith era.

Goff’s 334-yard performance was so brilliant, it was hard to pick out his most impressive statistic. The 82.1 completion percentage? Those five TDs? The passer rating of 156.0?

Both St. Brown (115 yards) and Jameson Williams (108) topped 100 receiving yards. Jahmyr Gibbs added 94 on the ground. At one point, Detroit squeezed 38 points out of six possessions, turning a close game into a major reality check for the Bears.

“S—, I ain’t never had 50 (points) put on me ever in my life,” Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said. “Ever. Not even in a video game. So that s— was crazy to me.”

Brisker called the day “embarrassing” with the Lions seemingly cashing in on every big mistake the Bears made.

The opening kickoff from Cairo Santos that bounced out of bounds inside the 10-yard line? Five plays later: touchdown, Lions.

The first-quarter illegal-contact penalty against cornerback Tyrique Stevenson that negated a sack by defensive end Montez Sweat? Three plays later: touchdown, Lions.

Quarterback Caleb Williams’ ill-advised interception in the second quarter? Eight plays later: touchdown, Lions.

The Bears’ failed fourth-down conversion near midfield in the third? Three plays later: touchdown, Lions.

“When you play a good team on the road and you have turnovers and you don’t convert on fourth down and you give up explosive plays on defense, it can go sideways in a hurry,” Johnson said. “That was really the name of the game.”

For Chicagoans, it’s only understandable to witness what happened Sunday and fear this was — and is — a continuation of last season’s humiliation. How could one not recognize all that sloppiness, all those game-changing errors, the continued backpedaling by a discombobulated offense? Indeed, the Bears somehow topped their second-and-32 conundrum in the first half with a third-and-34 in the third quarter.

Heck, if we’re being honest, Johnson’s first two games in Chicago have already had shades of the past four Bears head coaches.

A horrifying, jaw-dropping loss at Ford Field? Matt Eberflus has been there.

Struggles getting the starting quarterback unlocked? Sudden and troubling kicker uncertainty? We have Matt Nagy on Line 2.

The infamous John Fox adage of “It’s all a problem”? Check.

And indeed, Sunday marked the first time the Bears allowed 50 points in a game since doing so in back-to-back losses to the Patriots and Packers during a freefall under Marc Trestman in 2014.

Yuck.

And it’s hard to see many quick fixes coming. Johnson’s offense was again marred by inconsistency Sunday. In the first half, Williams failed to pick up a single yard on back-to-back quarterback sneaks, a dreadful missed opportunity when the game was still in reach.

“Find an open gap and go get it,” the quarterback said.

Alas …

“I’ve got to go back and look at that from behind,” Johnson added. “It was hard for me to tell (what went wrong) with just the still pictures.”

What Johnson will likely find in his video review in the coming days is a group not yet ready to uphold his championship standards consistently. The Bears’ 2025 penalty total has already ticked up to 20 with eight more coming Sunday.

Defensive starters Jaylon Johnson and T.J. Edwards both aggravated pre-existing injuries and left the game for good. And at one point in the fourth quarter, Lions fans behind the northeast end zone collaborated on a “F— Ben Johnson!” chant that seemed to echo around the building with equal parts glee and bitterness.

Even Lions safety Kerby Joseph seemed to poke at Johnson, punctuating his interception of Williams with a celebration that mimicked Johnson’s renowned “Stumblebum” play from last season at Soldier Field. “Did it on the fly,” Joseph said.

All is fair …

Now comes the test to see how Johnson will respond and how he can get his team to follow after such an ugly defeat. To that end, perhaps one silver lining was that Johnson didn’t arrive at his postgame press availability Sunday seething or even all that downtrodden, instead using perspective as his airbag.

“We’ve got a lot of prideful guys,” Johnson said. “We’re two games into the season. I think they’re just as disappointed as the coaching staff is. And we’re committed to getting this thing right.”

Johnson has been around long enough to understand that losing football games is part of the gig. It’s the losing faith part he’s trying to remove from the culture at Halas Hall.

“When you’re around this league long enough, these games happen,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t feel any better when it happens. But the good teams I’ve been with, they find a way to respond.”

Williams called his new head coach’s postgame message “extremely powerful,” a pep talk in which Johnson reiterated belief and trust in his players. The Bears’ starting quarterback believes the locker room intends to reciprocate.

“We’re out there getting after it, and we get our tail kicked,” Williams said. “So for a coach to say after the game that he still believes in us (matters). … We have to keep chugging along and find ways to win the next game.”

Added Johnson: “Finding our first win of the season is all we care about.”

Still, who knows what any of that really means right now?

All the talk of making corrections, all the promises by coaches and players to keep their chins up and their effort high is admirable. But it has all been said before. Eventually, promises must be backed by results.

Sunday’s result, unfortunately, felt as predictable as it was embarrassing. It left a Bears team in need of a confidence boost reeling. Again.

This doesn’t seem to be exactly what Johnson thought he signed up for. But it’s his chore to fix it. All of it. And soon.

(Top photo of Brian Branch sacking Caleb Williams: Junfu Han / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

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