The Bears offense put up 440 yards and 38 points before faltering in a Week 17 loss to the 49ers, but the unit couldn’t find the same rhythm against the Lions in Week 18.
They were held scoreless while gaining 107 yards and six first downs for most of the first three quarters of the game. That left them behind 16-0 when they finally did some good things on that side of the ball. Two touchdowns and two two-point conversions made it a tie game, but the Bears couldn’t get anything going after a late interception by safety Kevin Byard and they ended up losing 19-16.
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Chicago is still the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, but the result left head coach Ben Johnson feeling depressed about where the unit is as it heads into the playoffs.
“I was not happy with the offensive today. . . . We can’t dig ourselves into a hole like that,” Johnson said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com. “I was disappointed with the offense as a whole. I let these guys know. And we will be better off for it.”
The Bears defense didn’t do much to stand out in either loss and they’ll need to be sharper on that side of the ball against the Packers in the wild card round, but Johnson is in Chicago because of his skills as an offensive coach and it seems clear that he views this unit as one that will need to carry the Bears if they want to stay in the playoffs for any length of time.
