Ben Johnson didn’t mince words when discussing the Bears’ first-team offense on Friday night.

That’s no shock. The Bears’ head coach never does.

He considered that unit sloppy early in Friday’s preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs, in a way that has been common during camp.

“It is disappointing to me offensively for sure, because I thought we kind of worked our way out of that,” Johnson told on-site reporters in a press conference following a 29-27 victory at Arrowhead Stadium. “I am still learning this group as well. This is our first time on the road and we were going to find out what kind of road team we were going to be. If the first quarter was any indication, it was not good enough. We have to get better in a hurry.

“The good news is we are going to be able to look at this tape and coach it up with our guys. It is out of our system, hopefully, for us going into the regular season.”

Game tape will show a botched handoff exchange between quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Olamide Zaccheaus on the first play. Then, a Colston Loveland false start. Two plays later, it will show a punt.

Johnson will surely highlight those mistakes, plus an instance where Williams held on to the ball too long and got sacked. Or an opportunity to gain positive yards working further through his progression instead of forcing the ball to Rome Odzune on third-and-5 from the Kansas City 10-yard line.

Those were all situations the Bears had worked on and repped out during camp. Mistakes will happen, but such a high volume doesn’t sit well with Johnson entering the final two weeks before Week 1. That’s especially true after seeing improvement last week versus Buffalo.

“Last week was a really good start for us,” Johnson said. “This week wasn’t quite the same, it didn’t feel like.”

Williams felt the same way about the Bears’ unforced errors, especially with evidence that the offense can be far better.

“We all see what we can be,” Williams said. “We all see the flashes – there are often some pretty good moments in practice and in games we’ve had so far.”

The Bears put some good moments together with 10 points in the final two possessions. There were opportunities for the field goal drive to have ended in six, but the two-minute touchdown drive involved the smart decisions and detailed execution that result in explosive plays and scoring drives.

Williams extracted some positives from that, focusing on the resilience required to stay in games after rough starts.

“There are obviously moments we don’t want; we want to come out and start fast (and) win the game early on,” Williams said in his presser. “If those don’t happen, it always seems to come down towards the end of the game. Being able to understand that, being able to have the discipline and self-control that it always comes down to the end of the game – that happened today and the guys did a great job.”

Johnson is striving for greater consistency, but doesn’t feel the need to condense or refine the plays available to him on early-season game days in order to find it. The coaching staff is committed to working through issues and getting them right over the next two weeks.

“We will have the right amount of volume so that we can stress the defense,” Johnson said. “Not only in week one but throughout the season. We have to be able to execute it. That is a decision we will make. We have plenty of time to assess what has gone on over the last few weeks and what direction we have to go here for the opening game.

“To be honest with you we might have to ebb and flow a little bit after that opening game. Usually, it will take until the (Week 5) bye week. I think it is placed at just the right time to identify who we are and what we are going to be for the rest of the season.”