Despite a key injury, D.J. Moore saw fewer targets than expected. Ben Johnson reveals the surprising offensive struggles against Green Bay.
The Chicago Bears were already in a tough spot before the game kicked off against the Green Bay Packers.
The team's leading receiver, Rome Odunze, was marked out due to a foot injury. Odunze has 661 receiving yards and six touchdowns this season. With the injury, D.J. Moore was expected to get more targets, but what happened was quite the opposite.
Moore was targeted three times and finished with one catch for -4 receiving yards. This was surprising considering Moore is second on the team in receiving yards and has been reliable in his career.
Head coach Ben Johnson did his best to explain what happened in the game that led to Moore not being used as frequently. At Monday's press conference, he stated that he planned to get him the ball more often, but it just didn't work out that way versus the Packers.
"I don’t know if there was anything with DJ," Johnson said. "I thought he ran some pretty good routes over the course of the day, and we just couldn’t give him the ball. Which, that was not the intent. I thought going into the game, we might have had more for him than any other player in the offense. Was a little surprised at the end when I saw the stat sheet for one catch like he had."
Moore has 498 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 2025. He is currently in his third season with Chicago and was the franchise's last 1,000-yard receiver back in 2023, recording 1,364 receiving yards.
The wideout has been in the NFL since 2018, spending his first five seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He was traded to the Bears from the Panthers ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft for the No. 1 overall pick.
That pick was used on former Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. Young has 7,617 passing yards, 44 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in his NFL career.
At the end of the day, it could have been that the Packers game planned well and knew Moore was going to be getting some more looks, so they made sure to lock him down. Another possibility was that Johnson didn't want to force targets for Moore.
If Odunze is out again, Moore's targets are expected to increase. However, the next matchup is not very favorable, as the Bears face the Cleveland Browns, who are allowing the third-fewest passing yards per game at 188.
It'll be interesting to see how Johnson decides to use Moore if Odunze is unable to play in Week 15.