Bears coach Ben Johnson is wasting no time setting the standard in his first year in Chicago.

After Chicago trudged to a 0–2 start to the 2025 season, Johnson publicly put his players on blast during Wednesday's media availability. The Bears are coming off an embarrassing beatdown against the Lions—Johnson's former team—in Week 2's 52–21 loss, allowing Jared Goff and Detroit's offense to average a whopping 8.8 yards per play for a total of 511 net yards.

In the wake of Sunday's blowout defeat, Johnson started off his presser with a very blunt statement on how he views his players' level of effort in practices this season.

"I think our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship caliber team," Johnson said.

ESPN's Courtney Cronin followed up with details on exactly what Johnson wasn't happy with in Chicago's practices:

"We should be going to the football, finishing hard," Johnson said, via Cronin. "We talk about it all the time with the offensive players that our fundamentals, our finish and our technique, they need to show up in walk through, they need to show up on the practice field. That's how it shows up on game day. Simple things of how do we properly block? How do we catch the ball? How do we block after the catch? Ball security and things like that. It's the little things that you learn in youth league football that even at this level, they make a huge difference."

It's a brutally honest assessment of the Bears that comes after just two games in Johnson's head coaching tenure. Johnson declined to name any names, but some fans on X (formerly Twitter) thought Johnson's scathing comment was directed at Bears' veterans who perhaps were a little too comfortable on the roster.

Chicago's next test of the season will come against the Cowboys on Sunday at Soldier Field.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ben Johnson Blasts Bears’ ‘Practice Habits’ After 0–2 Start to Season.

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