Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson expressed frustration over the media's coverage of his team as he heads into his second season at the helm. With training camp still underway, the Bears coach seemingly took exception to the media asking about last season. It's no secret that Johnson is under a lot of scrutiny and pressure to replicate or improve upon the success Caleb Williams and his team displayed.
"Listen, all I care about is, ‘does it help us win or not?’ That's really what I'm all about," Johnson said, sounding off to reporters on Thursday. "We can talk about injuries up here; the guys that aren’t out there, they’re not helping us win. "I want to talk about the guys that are out there helping us right now.
I want stories to be written about those guys. We have 90 guys on the roster right now, a lot of which are fighting for their professional careers, and their stories are incredible. Talking about last year isn’t going to help us win," he said.
More news: Josh Allen Gives Honest Assessment of Aaron Rodgers Before Final Season Last season, Chicago finished 11-6, winning the NFC North Division and claiming the No. 2 seed in the NFC Playoffs. They proceeded to eliminate their rivals, the Green Bay Packers, in the Wild Card Round, then fell just short of the NFC Championship Game when they lost to the Los Angeles Rams. Williams had a magical and memorable season, and it made Johnson seem like the mastermind that the Bears were truly missing.
A lot was due to his coaching and instilling the right mindset in his players, as he showed his ability to motivate them with fiery postgame speeches in the locker room. That said, there continues to be discussion of whether or not this team will show itself as legitimate NFC contenders again in the coming season, or will suffer a regression from its previous form. Based on ESPN's rankings of schedule difficulty, the Bears drew the toughest for the coming season.
It's clear Johnson is already feeling the pressure of making things work, especially after losing key personnel this offseason via trades, free agency, and now being hit with injury issues weeks ahead of the Bears' regular-season opener. Just a few of those injuries included wide receiver Luther Burden III, who has dealt with a groin injury, and their newest safety, Coby Bryant, who is out for up to six months after knee surgery on Aug. 16. Johnson is scrambling to come up with the ideal roster decisions in what has been a troubling build-up to their next NFL campaign.
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