New Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson isn't afraid to be frank about his offense's performance.
Following Sunday's Family Fest at Soldier Field, Johnson, unprompted, called out the offense after it took a step back 10 practices into training camp.
"It was sloppy -- sloppier than we were hoping we would be at this point," he said, via the Chicago Sun-Times.
Johnson's candor stands in contrast to that of previous coaching staffs, who often dismissed and downplayed offensive issues publicly. Had the issues popped up in the first few days of practice, that would have been one thing, but at this stage, Johnson expects crisper execution.
According to reporters, the biggest issue was the delay of game penalties, with Caleb Williams' offense getting out of the huddle late during the scrimmage setting. There were multiple delay penalties, and the QB had to burn a timeout after getting out of the huddle with just seven seconds left on the play clock.
"It's something we're going to have to address, for sure," Johnson said. "It showed up more today than it has in practice. This was more like a real game. And if it continues like that, we're not going to win many games."
Johnson emphasized he observed repeated execution mistakes and made it clear he expects things to be "a little cleaner" at this point in camp.
It's not the time to smash the panic button in Chicago. Some growing pains should be expected with the first-time coach and his offense, particularly given that it's run by a young quarterback who had questionable coaching during his rookie season.
Johnson's willingness to publicly call out the offense is a positive. How the players, particularly the QB, react and adapt moving forward will be telling.
The first-time coach smartly spun the down practice for the offense into a positive for the defensive unit.
"Execution of the play wasn't what we wanted to be," Johnson said of the offense. "It's a credit to the defense. They came out and they kicked the offense's rear in that. So that's what showed up to me -- they wanted it a little bit more."
