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Bears head coach Ben Johnson isn’t playing most of his starters Sunday, but the first preseason game against the Dolphins is an important dry run for at least one person — Johnson himself.
‘‘There’s no question,’’ he said.
Johnson spent the offseason watching film and testing himself about what he would do in certain situations — whether to call a timeout, go for it on fourth down or any of a series of a thousand small decisions head coaches have to make in a given game.
He has spent the offseason program training his players about what certain code words mean when the Bears want to run plays at faster or slower tempos, depending on the score, or when to spike the ball or do whatever else a ticking clock requires from them.