The Chicago Bears were fooled on Sunday by a drawn-up trick play that they had seen before
In the Chicago Bears’ loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Ben Johnson dialed up a play that took the football world by storm. Jared Goff’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta in the fourth quarter fooled the Bears’ defense and drew parallels to a play they had seen before.
We told ya he's an athlete 😉#ProBowlVote | @JaredGoff16 | @samlaporta pic.twitter.com/Fx4NZvBrGE
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 22, 2024
This play design from Johnson can be seen as inspiration from Green Bay’s stumble play against the Chicago Bears in September of 2023.
Even when the Packers aren't beating the Bears, they are still beating the Bears, this time via Lions OC Ben Johnson, who took this accidental fumbled snap play from Sept 2023 and turned it into a choreographed "stumble bum" that was a TD today. pic.twitter.com/fJQrtC2LQy
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) December 22, 2024
This foolery from the Lions put them up by 20 and was the nail in the coffin for the Bears’ ninth consecutive loss of the season. Johnson continues to wow the entire league with some of his wild play designs this year, and his own personnel had praise for the guru’s decision-making.
“I don’t know how you look at a play where somebody fell on accident, and think, I’m gonna call that in the game,” said wide-out Tim Patrick. “He’s just, he’s one of one when it comes to that play calling.”
Johnson as a whole called a fantastic game against a frail Chicago Bears defense. This go around, Detroit didn’t have to deal with Matt Eberflus calling the shots defensively. The visitors took advantage of the holes in Chicago’s defense early with 27 first-half points.
Jared Goff finished with 336 passing yards with 23 completions on 32 attempts. Despite not having David Montgomery active due to a knee injury, Detroit still ran for 146 yards on the Chicago Bears’ defense. Jahmyr Gibbs led the way in the Lions’ rushing attack with 109 yards off 23 carries and tacked on a score.
The Goff to Jameson Williams 82-yard was the biggest play of the game for Johnson’s offense. Williams finished the contest with five grabs for 143 yards, and Amon-Ra St. Brown added six catches for 70 yards.
This trick play further cements Ben Johnson’s case to be the next Chicago Bears head coach
In what was his final on-field tryout in front of the Chicago Bears front office, Johnson passed with flying colors. One might even say Johnson pulled the trick play out of his bag to impress Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren up in the suites.
Based on Detroit’s offensive showing on Sunday, it is very clear that Johnson did everything he could to put his best foot forward heading into the interview cycle that will begin within the next handful of weeks. There have been plenty of reports showing that both sides have interest in one another, with the most recent coming on Sunday morning before kickoff.
Johnson has responded to the Chicago Bears’ early interest in him by saying that he too is interested in what the organization has to offer moving forward. The team has some solid cap space to work with and good draft capital in 2025 that can fill the major holes on the roster with ease if handled correctly. Johnson will surely have questions for the front office in the same ways that they will have things to ask him. If both sides are satisfied with the early conversations, it could lead to very exciting things.
Caleb Williams gave Ben Johnson a showing worth paying attention to on Sunday as well
The Chicago Bears rookie sensation put together a good game against one of the league’s best defensive play callers, Aaron Glenn. Williams threw for over 300 yards for the fourth time in a game this year and eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark on the campaign, being the first Chicago Bears rookie quarterback to ever accomplish that feat.
If Johnson can see the potential in Williams that most of the league does, this job will be his to lose come January. There are other suitors that the Chicago Bears will interview for this role, but none are as intriguing as Johnson.
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