Ben Johnson has spent the week telling his team what Monday night in Seattle will take, and on Saturday he said it again. “We’ve been saying all week long that we’re going to have to coach the best that we’ve coached all year. We’re going to have to play the best that we’ve played all year,” the Bears coach said before practice. “That doesn’t mean we’re scared to make mistakes or anything like that, but we just got to be on our mess and we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot with turnovers or penalties or things of that nature. We need to play a clean football game.”
The 5-2 Bears play the Seahawks, the defending Super Bowl champions, on Monday night at Lumen Field. It will be the first game for Jeffery Simmons, the All-Pro defensive tackle general manager Ryan Poles got from the Tennessee Titans on Thursday for 2027 and 2028 first-round picks and a 2027 fourth-round pick, with a 2028 fifth-round pick coming back to Chicago.
“A heck of a player”
Johnson said he and Poles talk every day, and he could tell the Simmons talks were “picking up steam there pretty quickly” on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. “We’re all on board and we certainly got a heck of a player that we feel strongly about,” he said.
What he has liked from a distance is the production. “He’s a guy that forces an offense to know where he is and affects their protection, affects the run game, all those things,” Johnson said. He wants to see Simmons “dictating some terms to the offense, but also elevating those around him as well, through his play and through his leadership.”
Poles has said he expects Simmons to play on Monday. Johnson said the new defensive tackle has played in several schemes and is a smart player, and that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen will find the right spot for him. “We don’t want him thinking out there, and that’s certainly what you’re conscious of coming into a new deal,” he said. Asked whether Simmons would carry his usual workload of close to 87 percent of the snaps, Johnson said: “He might not be quite that high week one for us, but he certainly has shown to be able to carry a load.”
Simmons had said he traded words with Johnson at the Bears-Titans joint practice in the summer. Johnson said he did not remember that, but he did remember the players chirping. “It was all good-natured,” he said. “I think that’s what you want to see is those competitive juices flowing and I think it brings out the best of everybody.”
What it frees up for Dennis Allen
Johnson said he and Allen came in a year and a half ago with the same picture of the defense they wanted, from the play style to the coverages, the corners and the pass rush, and have adjusted along the way. A player like Simmons changes that. “You get a guy like this and it frees up a lot of things,” he said. “It takes a lot of issues that you might have seen as shortcomings and can mask those to a degree, because when you got a defensive player that’s as dominant as this guy is, it just takes him making a play to cover up some things across the board.”
He said he told Simmons to just “be himself” and that he will fit into the locker room. “We got a bunch of really good guys that want to win football games and do whatever it takes,” Johnson said. “He’s going to help us win.”
The price of two first-round picks
The Bears will not have a first-round pick in either of the next two drafts. Johnson said he and Poles have talked about it and still believe in drafting and developing players. “Biggest difference obviously is we won’t have as much high-end capital to work with, but we’re going to stay true to our process and what we believe in,” he said. “We know there was a steep price to give up for a guy like Simmons, but at the same time we feel like his impact is going to be a big deal for us.”
Asked what it means to have a general manager willing to take that kind of swing, he said the standard has not changed since he arrived. “Whoever’s here for this week, we got to find a way to win the next game,” he said. “I believe in this locker room. We have a lot of talent. I believe in this coaching staff.”
Monangai out again, Benedet at left tackle
Running back Kyle Monangai, who has toe and thumb injuries from Week 4, has not practiced this week. “I would count him out this week,” Johnson said. He said the team never felt it was right to put Monangai on injured reserve and is “still hopeful we’ll get him back sooner rather than later,” but he could not say whether that would be after the bye.
With Monangai out, Johnson said running back Zavier Scott, who has been called up from the practice squad in recent weeks, could get more snaps. “If this playtime trend that we’ve had over the last few weeks, if that continues to be a thing, I think we’re going to need all three backs to play for us,” he said.
Johnson confirmed that Theo Benedet will start at left tackle. Tight end Colston Loveland showed up on Friday’s injury report with a neck issue, and Johnson said, “We’re hoping it’s a minor thing.” Loveland practiced fully on Saturday and has no injury designation. Linebacker T.J. Edwards, the defense’s play-caller, will return from a hamstring injury after missing two games, while defensive back Malik Muhammad (toe) and linebacker D’Marco Jackson (ankle) are questionable.
Johnson also said he was “aware” of the cleats issue around Caleb Williams, who has been fined twice for wearing Caddix cleats that show an unauthorized logo and has said he will not cover the logo in Seattle. “He’s all about the team, and I know he’s not going to hurt the team,” Johnson said.
Darnold, the crowd and Mike Macdonald
Johnson said it has been “pretty cool” to watch Sam Darnold’s career arc, ending with a Super Bowl last season. “We talk about that path not always being linear,” he said. He said Seattle plays very good defense, can run the ball and has playmakers outside, and he thinks the Seahawks’ offense is “just starting to get warmed up” with a new guard and running backs coming back.
He called communication the top priority of the week for a loud Monday night crowd and pointed to center Garrett Bradbury. “He’s loud. He’s fearless,” Johnson said. “You can play all the crowd noise at practice that you want until you’re in that environment in real time.”
As a play-caller, he said facing a defense this good is fun. “It brings out your competitive juices,” he said. He has not faced Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald since Macdonald’s first season in Seattle, and he said he did not study Seattle while watching last season’s playoffs. “I usually don’t start watching tape of the opponent until you’re at the crunch time,” he said. “You feel a little urgency. I think that brings out the best of you.”
The Bears play at the Seahawks on Monday, November 2, at 8:15 p.m. ET, which is 3:15 a.m. Tuesday in Cairo.
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