Story byPhil Thompson, Chicago TribuneSun, January 4, 2026 at 2:21 AM UTC·17 min readCHICAGO — Kevin Byard III remembers how badly the Chicago Bears lost to the Detroit Lions in Week 2, but also how, in the aftermath, Ben Johnson didn’t lose it. Johnson, the former Lions offensive coordinator, was humbled by his ex-team 52-21 at Ford Field, stumbling to an 0-2 start as a first-time head coach. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“There’s TVs around this building that be on these networks,” Byard said of the early critics, the doubters. “The main thing he (Johnson) just preached to us is we recognize outside of the building, everybody thinks the sky is falling, but we’re going to continue to trust the process.“And I think that was the thing that spoke heavy to all of us. … When you lose in the NFL usually, that week the building is kind of tense.
