Bears' Ben Johnson Takes Different Approach Than Jets After Week 4 Game

The Chicago Bears and New York Jets are taking different approaches this week after their Week 4 matchup at Soldier Field. 

Head coach Ben Johnson's offense ran 89 plays against Aaron Glenn's defense in the 23-12 win. The Bears had more first downs (34) than the Jets' offense ran plays (32). Of course, time of possession was completely one-sided. Bears had the ball for 42:45 while the Jets held the ball for 17:15. 

Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent led the offense on an 18-play, 76-yard drive that took 9:16 off the clock to close out the game with three-straight kneel downs. 

When asked about preparing Bagent for this week's game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, Johnson indicated that the team will still have a "padded practice to get after it a little bit. Our bigs need to look to improve their techniques and fundamentals throughout the course of the day today. It's no different for Tyson."

Although it will be a padded practice, the Bears will make some modifications. 

“We had a long discussion there with our guys and we're trying to do the best we can to balance it out," Johnson said. "Like I said before, we are still in improvement mode. We're just starting the second quarter of the season. It's all about how do we improve as a team. It's not like we can go full-fledged walkthrough. We don't believe in that. And yet, it'll be a little bit different practice here today to make sure that we're smart about the number of reps that we got on Sunday.”

Bears running back Kyle Monangai ran the ball 30 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns last Sunday. His final play was a 4-yard run on third-and-5 with 4:08 left in the fourth quarter. Monangai left the game with a thumb injury. 

“The thumb is not an issue, but he did have 30 carries, and he feels like he had 30 carries," Johnson said on Wednesday. 

The Bears' defense played just 32 snaps. After the game, linebacker Devin Bush provided an honest assessment of what it was like from his perspective. 

"Yeah, it was boring," Bush said. "I got bored. I got bored a couple times. I had to stay warm just in case. I know we had couple sudden change moments, but you know, I feel like that got the defense going. We had an opportunity to get put in situations where we got to step up and, you know, play to our standard. So, it was good." 

Glenn's Jets are taking a different approach with the start of their week for their Week 5 matchup against the 3-1 Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium.

"We are going through walkthrough," Glenn said on Wednesday. "Defense had a good amount of plays. Plus, I want this to be a recovery day anyway for everybody. Just to make sure we take care of our bodies and get ready to go through this week on a good note, you know, play against a good team."

Johnson said he "doesn't believe" in having a "full-fledged walkthrough," while Allen is doing just that for his team. Neither approach is definitively proven, but Sunday's noon kickoffs for both teams will offer a direct look at which strategy yields better results.