Ben Johnson left Atlanta with a 31-23 win, a 4-2 record and a stat sheet that bothered him almost as much as the scoreboard pleased him. Officials threw 12 flags against the Chicago Bears for 133 yards on Sunday, October 18, their heaviest penalty bill in a decade, and their head coach used his postgame news conference to say the cure is cleaner hands rather than a shake-up.
Johnson told reporters the officiating crew called the game the way his staff’s scouting report had predicted, which in his view left no excuse. He also made clear he would not overhaul anything on the strength of one messy afternoon, explaining that before he reacts, “you’ve got to see a streak of that.”
Coach Johnson is live at the podium https://t.co/ixFELZIHy4
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 18, 2026
Where the flags hurt
Several of the penalties landed at the worst possible moments. Wide receiver Jahdae Walker was called for running into the punter, which handed the Falcons a fresh set of downs, and he was later ejected in the fourth quarter after a head-butt on Atlanta’s Chris Blair following a kickoff, with Chicago already up 31-7. Tight end Colston Loveland had an offensive pass interference call erase what would have been a fourth-down conversion. Left tackle Ozzy Trapilo, playing his first game since rupturing a patellar tendon in last season’s playoffs, was flagged for holding on a play that would have gained 24 yards.
The discipline problem is not new for this group. Johnson has spoken repeatedly this season about penalties, and Sunday’s total stood out even in a game the Bears controlled for 40 minutes and 8 seconds of possession.
Managing the lead with Thursday in mind
The other choice Johnson defended was how he handled a 24-point cushion. With the New England Patriots due at Soldier Field in four days, the staff began resting defensive starters early in the fourth quarter. Atlanta scored 16 straight points to get within 31-23 with 5:41 left, helped by a lost fumble from Roschon Johnson, before Kyler Gordon knocked the ball loose from Michael Penix Jr. on a sack and Devin Bush’s recovery at the Falcons’ 28 ended the threat.
Johnson said the short week shaped those substitutions and admitted it was a balancing act. “If we didn’t have the Thursday night game, I don’t know that we’d do things like we did,” he said.
He was just as candid about Gordon, who came off the PUP list a day before kickoff and was cleared to play after a conversation with the coaches that morning. The staff kept his workload limited to protect his conditioning, and he still finished with three sacks and two forced fumbles. Johnson called the cornerback a huge lift for the defense and said he is very hard to block as a blitzer.
A fast start, and a response
Johnson framed the game as a reply to the 31-7 loss at Green Bay a week earlier. The Bears built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, with Caleb Williams completing his first 12 passes in his return from a hamstring injury, and Johnson said the team had talked the night before about starting quickly in all three phases. Chicago scored touchdowns on all four of its red-zone trips.
What comes next
The Chicago Bears welcome the New England Patriots on Thursday, October 22 (8:15 p.m. ET kickoff in Chicago) (preview and Game Center). Sunday’s full result from Atlanta is in the Game Center.
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