Bears coach Ben Johnson won't use short playoff prep week as an excuse

The Packers didn’t play their starters Sunday but the Bears did. While coach Ben Johnson defended his decision after the game — “Some teams, they rest their starters [but] we don't, we play football,” he said — the playoff schedule might have conspired against him.

Players will have one fewer day to recover because they’re playing Saturday night, not Sunday, at Soldier Field.

Johnson won’t be using it as an excuse.

“We’ve been doing this all year,” he said. “We’ve had long weeks. We’ve had seven-day stretches. We’ve had six days. We had a five-day stretch in there. We’re really built for this at this point. So I feel really good about the schedule, the setup. I know our guys will be prepared.

“I think the biggest challenge any time you get on a short week like this is just making sure physically the guys are doing everything they can to get their bodies recovered. They’ve done that all season long. I would expect this one to be no different.”

The Bears will hold a walk-through Tuesday, followed by practices Wednesday and Thursday. NFL rules allow them to make one of them a padded practice, should they so choose.

Notes

Specifying why he put together what he called one of the simplest game plans of the year against the Lions, Johnson said he installed fewer motions before the snap — as few as the Bears have had since Week  4 — because he wanted to “play fast” and “sound” against a Lions defense that can be confusing to face.

• Theo Benedet starting at left tackle for an injured Ozzy Trapilo on Sunday ended a streak of 369 consecutive snaps by the Bears’ five starting offensive linemen, the longest of the season.

• Defensive end Daniel Hardy has played one snap at fullback in two straight games.