Ben Johnson was touted as The Next Big Thing. He caused quite a stir when he turned down the Commanders in 2024, so the Bears landing him last year was no small feat. His first year was a huge hit, Chicago won a playoff game for the first time since 2010. But we’ve seen plenty of coaches struggle in year 2.
Second Album Syndrome
Smash debuts are hard to follow up. The Bears first single was an incredible 59 point banger, but their next release was a 3 point dud. That was the biggest game-to-game drop off since 1973 when
the Falcons scored 62 points, coincidentally in Week 1, and followed that up by being shutout. Ouch.
A week after D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai each had over 100 yards rushing, they combined for 92. Certainly the poor weather last week contributed to the Bears offense coming to a screeching halt. But as was the case in Detroit, stop the run and you can stop Ben Johnson’s offense. Easier said than done, as the Eagles gave up over 125 yards to both Swift and Monangai last year in a 24-15 loss to the Bears.
And that was with Caleb Williams, though he had only 13 yards on the ground. The Bears will be without Williams on Monday, and might not have Tyson Bagent too. Somehow, Case Keenum returned. Keenum has never been a threat to run and in four starts in 2023 Bagent ran for 105 total yards. Now we get to see how good Ben Johnson really is. Or how much this defense is struggling against the run.
Bought a Lemon?
110 WRs have started a season with at least two catches that resulted in 4.5 or fewer yards per attempt. There are a few good players that had such bad starts, such as Doug Baldwin, Julian Edelman, Henry Ellard, and Tyler Lockett. But they didn’t recover that season:
- In 2012 Baldwin would play in 14 games and start 4, and finish with 29 catches for 366 yards, for 12.6 yards per reception. In 2011 and 2013 he had at least 50 catches and 778 yards for 15.5 yards per receptions.
- In 2010 Edelman would play in 15 games and start 3, but finished the season with just 7 catches. The year before, his first in the NFL after transitioning from QB, he had 37 catches.
- In 1992 Ellard had a nine year span where he caught at least 52 catches for at least 945 yards, the one he didn’t he had 47 for 727 yards.
- Last year Lockett got cut after 7 games last year, signed with the Raiders where he performed no better, and is currently a free agent.
Most of the players with as bad a start as Lemon has had are a collection of forgettable players. It doesn’t get any better if you look at recent young players, we get an mostly uninspiring group of WRs:
Luther Burden, Chase Claypool, Britain Covey, Chimere Dike, DeMario Douglas, D’Wayne Eskridge (twice), Brandon Johnson, Xavier Legette, Darnell Mooney, Josh Palmer, Tyquan Thornton, Cedric Tillman, KaVontae Turpin, Kadarius Toney (twice), Christian Watson, and Isaiah Williams.
It would help if Sean Mannion didn’t telegraph screens that went nowhere to him. But there’s still time for Makai Lemon to turn the corner. Pennsylvania Lemon Law Protection lasts for 12 months.
College Football Watch List
12:00 – Texas at Tennessee
What version of Texas is going to show up? Probably all of them.
Texas EDGE Colin Simmons is expected to be one of the top picks, but he’s also listed at 6’3” 246 lbs. That puts him at the near end of the spectrum of height and weight that teams like for high draft picks. If he comes in any smaller or lighter than that, he might drop. Sounds pretty similar to Nolan Smith.
3:30 – Ole Miss at Florida and Oklahoma at Georgia
Riq Woolen has been a really good signing so far, and he’s not under contract for next year, so it’s probably a good idea to start looking for a replacement for when he gets paid in free agency. Georgia CB Ellis Robinson doesn’t have the size of Woolen (few do) but he plays like it.
You can’t miss Florida EDGE Emmanuel Oyebadejo, he’s 6’7”. The transfer from Jacksonville State had 2.5 sacks last week against Auburn, let’s see how he follows it up.
7:30 – Oregon at USC
Center and guard are suddenly issues. Oregon center Iapani Laloulu has also played left and right guard. At 6’2” he’s shorter than the Eagles like for interior linemen, but perhaps Willie Lampkin has them rethinking their priors.
USC CB Jontez Williams, a transfer from Iowa State, had a strong season in 2024 and was looking like a day two pick but tore his ACL this time last year. He left last week’s shootout with Rutgers with an undisclosed injury, but should be good to go. Now a year removed from his ACL tear, Oregon should give him a good test.
