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Chicago Bears Week 1 Snap Counts: Ben Johnson used his full stable of weapons but D'Andre Swift's usage showed his stubbornness
David Banks-Imagn Images

The Chicago Bears regular season opener gave us a small taste of what to expect from this new team under the command of head coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, even if the final result wasn't what anyone was hoping to see.

Early on in the game, the Bears were flat out dominating the Vikings on defense and the offense had a strong opening drive to start the game. After that, the offense fell apart and the defense was forced to spent too much time on the field.

As a result, a lot of players got in on the action Monday night. So, let's take a look at the final snap count totals and the takeaways that came out of it after Week 1.

Ben Johnson used his full stable of weapons, but you'd like to see more production

Going into this game, the team's head coach revealed the thing that was keeping him up at night was trying to figure out how to get everyone involved on offense.

The Bears have a lot of talented players on the offensive side of the ball and Johnson's scheme is supposed to let those players shine after the catch. We didn't see a whole lot of YAC opportunities for those players, but that's another story.

What Johnson did do, was rotate all of his weapons more often than I expected. Wide receivers DJ Moore and Rome Odunze were a constant for the Bears offense, playing 56 and 63 snaps respectively. When Moore was off the field, second-round rookie Luther Burden III mixed in for 2WR sets with Odunze and finished with 18 offensive snaps while handling punt return duties. Olamide Zaccheaus solely played in 3WR sets and finished with 30 snaps and seven targets.

At the tight end position, Cole Kmet was heavily used playing 60 snaps while first-round pick Colston Loveland saw the field 38 times on offense. Neither player really got involved in the passing game, something Johnson noted after the game was matchup-specific for Week 1.

Moore and Odunze were the team's most productive weapons in the passing game. Moore hauled in three receptions for 68 yards on five targets. Odunze was targeted nine times coming down with six receptions for 37 yards and one touchdown. Zaccheaus got involved as well with 42 receiving yards.

D'Andre Swift's usage was stubbornly overused

After the game, Johnson took some of the blame for the lack of consistency in the run game.

"The running game, I just didn't feel the rhythm as I was calling it," Johnson explained. "Some good and some not quite so good. It didn't seem like we were all on the same page the whole time. That's a reflection of me as much as anything else."

The reason there was no rhythm is because Johnson did nothing to break it up with his personnel. Look at the opposite sideline for example, the Vikings' run game was stagnant at the start until head coach Kevin O'Connell gave more opportunities to running back Jordan Mason to find a spark.

Meanwhile, running back D'Andre Swift played 54 snaps on Monday and touched the ball 20 times. Swift averaged 3.25 yards per touch and his longest play went for just 13 yards.

As the devil's advocate, the Bears RB room was dealing with some injuries, but rookie Kyle Monangai was active and off the injury report for this game. He only played nine offensive snaps and had zero carries after Johnson mentioned the rookie as a player he trusts earlier in the week. Inexcusable.

Another option would have been to use Moore in the backfield more often to change the pace. Moore had just three carries for eight yards. Williams, as a result, led the team with 58 rushing yards on six attempts, all coming from scrambles.

Defensive rotation seemed to work, all things considered

Allen's unit on the defensive side of the ball was without three starters in Jaylon Johnson, T.J. Edwards, and Kyler Gordon. The team also listed second-round rookie defensive tackle Shemar Turner as an inactive as he continues to work back after missing a bulk of training camp.

All things considered, the defensive rotation still worked pretty effectively for the majority of the game. Dayo Odeyingbo looked like a real factor off the edge playing 46 snaps, which was the most encouraging sign. Montez Sweat, of course, left a lot on the field for a player of his caliber.

The rotation on the front was pretty solid. Andrew Billings (21 snaps), Tanoh Kpassagnon (13 snaps), Chris Williams (11 snaps) and Dominique Robinson (10 snaps) all got utilized and mixed in to give the starters some rest.

One surprise I noticed on defense was that fourth-round rookie linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II played just eight defensive snaps with Edwards inactive. I expected a much higher role for the rookie, instead Noah Sewell dominated the share of snaps alongside Tremaine Edmunds.

In the secondary, Nahshon Wright and Tyrique Stevenson played on the outside with Johnson out with Nick McCloud playing the majority of the nickel snaps in place of Kyler Gordon. No surprise there. The only other defensive back that mixed in was Jonathan Owens, who played the slot after McCloud moved outside while Wright dealt with a brief cramping issue. Safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker each played 100% of the defensive snaps.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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