The Chicago Bears are 3-1, leading the NFL in total offense through four weeks and just finished a game in which they piled up 492 yards and 34 first downs. So why did Ben Johnson sound concerned immediately after Sunday’s 23-12 win over the New York Jets?
Because once the Bears get close to the end zone, something keeps going wrong.
“Obviously, we’ve got to get better in the red zone,” Johnson said after the victory. “It’s been really three weeks in a row that we’ve left points out there.” For an offense that has otherwise been one of the NFL’s most productive, the numbers behind his warning are difficult to ignore. The Bears have a red-zone problem.
The Bears’ Red-Zone Problem Is Worse Than It Looks
Through four games, Chicago has reached the red zone 19 times and scored touchdowns on only eight of those possessions. The resulting 42.1% touchdown rate ranks 30th in the NFL. The Bears are also averaging just 3.58 points per red-zone possession, the lowest figure in the league.
The trend is even more revealing than the season-long number. Chicago was perfect on its four red-zone opportunities in the season-opening win at Carolina. Since then, the Bears have gone just 4-for-15. Against the Jets, it was 2-for-7.
That is a remarkable disconnect for a team that is moving the football so well. The Bears’ official game recap shows just how dominant they were between the 20s: 492 yards, 34 first downs and 42:45 of possession. They ran 89 offensive plays and never punted. Yet the scoreboard showed only 23 points.
The Goal Line, Not the Quarterback, Is the Problem
It would be easy to blame the quarterback carousel. Caleb Williams started the season, Case Keenum took over in Week 3 and Tyson Bagent started against the Jets after Williams suffered a hamstring injury. But that explanation doesn’t quite fit. The problems have shown up regardless of who is taking the snaps. Against New York, the Bears reached the 3-yard line or closer on their opening possession and came away empty after failing on fourth down. D’Andre Swift appeared to score twice on the drive, but both plays were overturned on review. Later, Chicago reached the 4-yard line and again failed to score before finally getting Kyle Monangai into the end zone on fourth down.
The short-yardage numbers reinforce the concern. Chicago is 5-for-8 on fourth-and-2 or shorter and just 11-for-22 on third-and-3 or shorter this season. That points toward a broader goal-line execution problem rather than something that can simply be pinned on one quarterback.
Leaving Points Behind Will Come And Haunt The Bears Sooner or Later
This is where Johnson’s concern becomes justified: The Bears have the NFL’s top rushing attack through four games, with 785 yards, while Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift have both already topped 300 rushing yards. Yet the offense has repeatedly struggled when the field gets compressed and every yard becomes harder to earn.
Chicago’s defense has helped cover for the problem. So has the team’s ability to dominate possession and consistently create scoring opportunities. But field goals instead of touchdowns can become a very different proposition against better opponents in one-score games. That creates an uncomfortable question for Johnson’s offense: What happens when the Bears defense isn’t there to stop their opponent and every point not scored comes back to haunt them?
Ben Johnson Knows This Bears Offense Can Be Better
That may be the most encouraging part of all this. Johnson isn’t searching for an explanation for an offense that can’t function. He knows exactly where the problem is, and he has already made fixing it a priority.
The Bears’ 3-1 record gives them the luxury of treating this as a correction rather than a crisis. But Johnson’s warning should not be dismissed simply because Chicago is winning. The offense is generating too many opportunities to end up with one of the worst NFL conversion rates.
If the Bears can turn those red-zone possessions into touchdowns, the offense could go from highly productive to genuinely dangerous. For now, Johnson has identified the problem. The next step is figuring out how to fix it.
Ben Johnson Has Identified the Bears’ Biggest Offensive Problem