Overview

• During the Bears–Raiders halftime interview, Johnson reacted curtly to Aditi Kinkhabwala’s follow-up, which was, “Do you need to change what you’re doing?” before ending the exchange.
• On Monday, Johnson said he interpreted the follow-up as a directive rather than a question, expressed regret over how it looked, and pledged to handle such interviews better.
• Kinkhabwala later said she would have been more specific and noted that captioning and audio issues made the interaction seem harsher than it was.
• The tense moment came with Chicago trailing 14-9 after roughly 90 first-half yards, but the Bears rallied to win 25-24 on Josh Blackwell’s late blocked field goal.
• Reaction was divided, with Emmanuel Acho criticizing Johnson and Jon Gruden defending him and the value of in-game coach interviews being questioned as the Bears enter their bye at 2-2.