The headline is wrong on its stated distance.

The shortest "shortest path distance" (straight line as measured from the Earth) between Earth and Mars is about 40M miles. The longest shortest path distance is about 250M miles. This depends on where the Earth and Mars are in their relative solar orbits.

These are straight line measurements though. The actual path for orbit change (delta V within the framework of solar and planetary gravitational fields) is along a curve because you can't just accelerate/decelerate the whole time. Thus you can't take a straight line path to get somewhere, thus the "shortest distance" is along the curve (geodesic) that gives the best delta V path within the gravitational field that is pulling you towards the sun and/or the planet when you get closer.

The distance of 120M miles is perfectly reasonable given these parameters along that curved path.