Chicago Bears HC Ben Johnson takes cowardly approach with locker room

On Monday, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson was still frustrated with penalties and miscues that led to a 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 8.

More News: Bears HC Ben Johnson blamed his team captains for Ravens loss

Chicago failed to capitalize near the red zone on the first two possessions, settling for short field goal attempts from Cairo Santos. The Bears were out-penalized on Sunday, committing 11 penalties for 79 yards to Baltimore’s six penalties for 45 yards.

The Chicago Bears coaching staff expects players to coach

More News: Bears QB Caleb Williams sounds off on red zone issues

During an appearance on ESPN 1000 on Monday, Johnson told Jeff Joniak that the coaching staff expects team leaders to take ownership for the mistakes.

“We’re here as coaches, we’re gonna help support these guys & be along with them,” Johnson said via Brendan Sugrue of The Bears Wire. “But it would go a long way if we just had a little bit more ownership in that locker room to take the bull by the horns so we do get this cleaned up.”

“We’re here as coaches, we’re gonna help support these guys & be along with them…but it would go a long way if we just had a little bit more ownership in that locker room to take the bull by the horns so we do get this cleaned up.”

Ben Johnson on @ESPN1000 regarding penalties

— Brendan Sugrue (@BrendanSugrue) October 27, 2025

Johnson made similar comments after the game on Sunday, saying that the lack of discipline wasn’t really on the coaching staff anymore.

“The penalties, to me, is what stands out first and foremost,” Johnson said. “We still have some of the pre-snap issues where there’s occasional not getting lined up quite right. There’s occasional, not getting the motion quite right. And so that stuff does, it adds up, and it hurts us…

“And so I think, I really put on the leaders there in that locker room to get this, get this ship going the right direction. In that regard, us coaches, we’ve been pounding that drum now for a while, and we haven’t gotten the results we wanted. So it’s on the leaders here on this team to get us right.”

Ben Johnson is taking a cowardly approach

Frankly, these are pretty cowardly comments by the first-year head coach. He made it clear when he was hired that the Bears weren’t going to have players be leaders until the coaching staff had shown them the ropes and what was expected.

The Bears are giving Johnson $13 million a year to change the culture. Instead of addressing those issues in the locker room, Johnson is saving face by crying to the media about penalties because the in-practice meltdowns aren’t getting anything done.

Johnson needs to fix the discipline problem.

Mike Vrabel isn’t having that issue with the New England Patriots.

Should team captains hold players accountable? Yes.

But the $13 million bucks stop with Johnson.

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