The Chicago Bears are gearing up for a prime-time showdown against the Washington Commanders on Monday night, where Chicago is fresh off a week of rest and are looking to win their third consecutive game.
It’ll be a tough matchup against a talented Commanders team, but the Bears will have the benefit of an extra week of rest and hopefully getting some injured starters back. But Chicago has historically struggled coming off the bye week, and new head coach Ben Johnson will be looking to rewrite an ugly trend.
The last four Bears head coaches don’t have a winning record coming off the bye week. Matt Eberflus went 1-2; Matt Nagy went 0-4; John Fox went 0-3; and Marc Trestman was 1-1. The last time a Bears head coach had success off the bye week was Lovie Smith, who went 6-3 in his nine-year tenure.
Johnson has a limited sample size through the first quarter of the season, but the Bears are riding a two-game winning streak after starting the season 0-2 with divisional losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. Now, Johnson will be looking to keep his team’s momentum going on the prime-time stage, where Chicago last blew a fourth-quarter lead to Minnesota back in Week 1.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Can Ben Johnson break the Bears’ curse coming off a bye week?
Reporting by Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
