Ben Johnson kept the trick-play wheel spinning Thursday in Nashville, and this time the Bears’ latest gadget call came with D’Andre Swift tossing the ball back to Caleb Williams, who hit Colston Loveland wide open downfield.
The clip, filmed during the Bears’ joint practice with the Titans, quickly started circulating online after Bears reporter Dave B posted it on X with the caption, “Ben Johnson continues to embarrass Titans,” and added, “Calls another trick play. It works.”
That kind of creativity has become familiar territory for Chicago fans since Johnson took over as head coach last year. He already dialed up the Bears’ first real trick play of the 2025 season against Dallas, a 65-yard flea-flicker touchdown from Williams to Luther Burden III that traveled the longest distance of any completed pass that season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
Johnson has kept reaching back into that same bag this offseason, too. Chicago has used a tight-end double pass against Cincinnati, and during a separate Bengals joint practice, Cole Kmet threw a checkdown pass as part of the offense’s gadget-heavy approach.
Not everyone loved seeing the Bears unveil another one in a practice setting. One fan mocked the move by writing, “Calling trick plays in a joint practice against a team that is pegged to maybe win six games… super cool Ben,” while another was even more direct: “Genius, show as many of your trick plays as you can in a meaningless scrimmage to a competitor.”
A third fan pointed back to Johnson’s past in Detroit, warning, “His cute little plays will cost you. Cost the Lions against Washington.”
Another reaction leaned the other way entirely: “Trick plays in a joint practice is psychopath behavior. I love it.”
The Washington reference was tied to Johnson’s time as the Lions’ offensive coordinator, when a trick play backfired during Detroit’s NFC Championship loss to Washington last January.
For Johnson, though, the risk-taking has remained part of the package since he arrived in Chicago. The Bears have built their offense around explosive plays and aggressive game-planning, and that approach has carried through the preseason joint practices.
Thursday’s work in Nashville also landed at an important point on the calendar, with Chicago facing its roster cutdown deadline Sunday. The Bears finish their preseason Saturday against the Titans, giving Johnson one more chance to sort out which starters will take the field before Week 1.
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