Amon-Ra St. Brown says be patient with Ben Johnson, Bears offense

The Ben Johnson era for the Chicago Bears got off to a disappointing start Monday night, as a 17-6 lead in the fourth quarter eventually turned into a 27-24 home loss at the hands of the division-rival Minnesota Vikings.

After months of hype surrounding Johnson’s dynamic offensive scheme, the Bears barely topped the 300 mark in total yards Monday night, going 3-for-12 on third down and needing a late touchdown pass from Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze just to pull them within one score in the final minutes.

Somebody who knows a thing or two about Johnson’s offense is Amon-Ra St. Brown, who put up huge numbers for the Detroit Lions during the three seasons in which Johnson was calling the plays in the Motor City.

On his podcast this week, St. Brown called for patience with Johnson as his old offensive coordinator works to smooth out the rough edges of his new unit and get things humming like they did in Detroit:

Johnson helped turn the Lions into one of the NFL’s most explosive offensive attacks over the last three seasons, and he’s got no shortage of weapons with which to work now that he’s in Chicago. Williams has limitless potential at quarterback, while Odunze, D.J. Moore, Cole Kmet, D’Andre Swift, Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III bring big-play potential all over the field. If the offensive line continues to improve, Johnson should have all the tools to unleash that same level of success with the Bears.

Until then, St. Brown is reminding everyone to pump the brakes on overreacting to one game, and give Johnson a little more time to build his new offense up to its full potential.