When Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson watched film from his team’s blowout loss to the Detroit Lions, he noticed a recurring theme.

It didn’t matter if it was tape on the offense, defense or special teams. He kept seeing the same thing.

The Lions played a little bit harder than the Bears.

“That’s a reflection of me as a coach,” Johnson told reporters at Halas Hall in Lake Forest on Wednesday. “That’s a reflection of our coaching staff and it’s a reflection of our players too. When you play a good team like that on the road, you gotta be all out every single snap and that was just not the case. Specifically, it was everybody.”

It’s been a mindset Johnson has tried to instill at Halas since the Bears hired him in January. Johnson emphasized the importance of details into everything the team does when the Bears started spring practices over the offseason. He carried the message into training camp.

But two games into the season, it seems the message hasn’t landed to the level Johnson wants yet.

It hasn’t happened in different ways. Chicago has committed 20 penalties, tied for the third-most in the NFL, which have either stalled offensive drives or prolonged defense. There have also been moments where players failed to execute the little things correctly, leading to blown plays in all three phases. It’s led to two disappointing losses in the NFC North to start the year.

All of it starts with practice for Johnson. How players practice is how players will play in a game. Two weeks into the season, Johnson hasn’t seen what he wants there yet either.

“I think our practice habits are yet to reflect a championship-caliber team,” Johnson said.

Johnson repeated what he’s looked for in practices since he took over in January. In order to get to that championship-caliber team level, players need their fundamentals, finish and technique to show up in everything that they do, no matter if it’s a walkthrough or practice.

He believes that’s what shows up on game day. Proper blocking, catching, blocking after a catch, ball security, all of it. If it’s done the right way at Halas, it’ll happen the right way elsewhere.

“It’s the little things that you learn in youth league football that even at this level, they make a huge difference,” Johnson said.

Quarterback Caleb Williams will play a major role in making sure practices reach Johnson’s level of expectation. Not only is the team relying on him to take major steps with his play in his second year after being the No. 1 overall pick. But Johnson wants Williams to set the precedent for how practice should go.

Williams said he and Johnson discussed how the quarterback will need to do whatever it takes to be there for the team and offense, whether it be bringing some energy or encouragement.

Once he does, it’ll come down to executing the offense in order to gain confidence that they can succeed in it.

“I think we’ve been taking the right steps,” Williams said. “The confidence has been growing within myself and within the offense and things like that. So I’m excited and that gets you up every day.”

The Bears seemed to understand the message at least at Wednesday’s practice. Players said after that it was a good practice that had a bit of intensity to it, something they said that Johnson liked too.

“That’s a reflection of me as a coach. That’s a reflection of our coaching staff and it’s a reflection of our players too. When you play a good team like that on the road, you gotta be all out every single snap and that was just not the case. Specifically, it was everybody.”

—  Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears head coach

Chicago faces an important week ahead of their matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field. The Bears are already in a tough position starting off 0-2 not only overall but in the division. An 0-3 start to the season could make things tougher than they’ve already been.

But Johnson remained confident in his team and his plan. Johnson didn’t plan on changing his tone at practice this week. He’s just staying true to the process.

“Our process isn’t going to change,” Johnson said. “It’s something I believe in, it’s something our staff believes in. We’re coming in, we’re getting the corrections done, and then we’re turning the page. We can talk about last week and continue to do that, but as far as I’m concerned, this building right now, we’re focused on how do we win our first game of the season? Our next opportunity to do that is against Dallas.”