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The Chicago Bears blew a fourth-quarter lead in a 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. And, no, Matt Eberflus wasn’t the coach. Welcome to the Ben Johnson era, which picked up right where the previous regime left off.
It wasn’t the most encouraging start for Johnson’s tenure, and it will no doubt get better (one game doesn’t define his career). But it was frustrating to watch more of the same. The offense showed promise on their opening series, but there’s a lot of work to be done and progress to be made, especially as quarterback Caleb Williams regressed as the game wore on. Pre-snap penalties continued to be their Achilles’ heel, and penalties as a whole were a game killer.
Meanwhile, the defense — without its top cornerbacks in Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon and linebacker T.J. Edwards — held the Vikings offense in check until the fourth quarter. They did enough to win the game. But, as always, the offense couldn’t do their part.
Our Bears Wire staff is sharing their thoughts on the Bears’ Week 1 loss vs. the Vikings.
Alyssa Barbieri
The start of the Ben Johnson era looked a lot like the conclusion of the Matt Eberflus era (and the guys who preceded him). The Bears had a late lead and blew it in embarrassing fashion. The defense stepped up while the offense couldn’t do their part. High expectations came tumbling down in another reality check. And it’s only Week 1.
That’s not to say that Johnson’s tenure in Chicago will end like those other guys, but it’s clear that there’s still plenty of work to be done for this team to become contenders, let alone winners. There was going to be overreaction either way in this one — win, and the Bears can be contenders this season; lose, the season is over.
It’s always the opposite that happens. I went into this game believing the offense was going to have to get into a shootout with their top cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon sidelined. Instead, it was the injury-riddled defense that stepped up while a healthy offense that stumbled backwards from a promising opening scoring drive.
This season, the excuses are gone for second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. Granted, we need to give Williams and the entire offense some semblance of patience as they adapt to this Ben Johnson system. But expectations are much higher given the talent around Williams. The offensive line was much improved, although far from perfect. And while Williams started 10-of-10, his accuracy fell off completely in the second half.
Penalties were also the name of the game in this one — as the Bears totaled 12 penalties for 127 yards. Some were earned, others questionable. The most egregious were the phantom holding call on right tackle Darnell Wright, which completely flipped the game at the start of the fourth quarter, and a phantom pass interference call on cornerback Tyrique Stevenson that led to the second of three fourth-quarter touchdowns by Minnesota.
While Chicago got hosed by the refs, they didn’t help themselves. This loss doesn’t fall solely on the refs. It’s a game that the Bears should’ve won and hopefully will win as the Ben Johnson era progresses. And, yet, this was far from the worst loss we’ve seen in recent memory with this team. That’s just the way it is.
Brendan Sugrue
New head coach, same team that always seems to blow a big lead. It’s becoming concerning that there is no killer mentality with this core group of players, even with a new voice leading them. That’s the most frustrating part of this loss. The Bears came out firing on all cylinders for much of the first half. Caleb Williams was in control, going 10-of-10, while the defense stifled JJ McCarthy so much that Kevin O’Connell’s decision-making went haywire in the first half. Then all phases melted down to allow Minnesota to creep back in and steal a game they had no business winning.
There are definitely areas that need to be (and should have been) fixed by this point. Williams’ accuracy in the middle of the field was atrocious. The pre-snap penalties were out of control. Cairo Santos’ struggles were costly. Even the coach bungled the clock near the end of the game. These don’t just get rectified overnight. Sure, there were some penalties that looked suspect that halted momentum, but that’s always going to happen. This loss doesn’t come down to a missed call or two. But Ben Johnson preached patience, and I’m going to follow his lead with that.
I’m also not going to write off a season because the Bears lost by three points. Teams look drastically different from September to November, let alone December. Both good and bad. In fact, this game felt like the 2018 blown lead to the Green Bay Packers, and it took the Bears 3 more weeks to find their footing with a new head coach.
The NFL is such an overreactionary league. It’s important not to feel too high or low after just one week of football. The Bears opened up the Johnson era with one really good half of football and one that stunk. So much can and will change by the time the season really takes shape. It’s up to the Bears to figure out what that change will look like, however. That killer instinct needs to develop with these players sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it will be the same story yet again.
Mike Pendleton
As much as things can change, they can also stay the same. It would’ve felt nice to say that the Bears collapse didn’t feel normal, but there’s too many games in recent memory that looked exactly like Monday night.
Caleb Williams had the Soldier Field crowd roaring in the first half. Ten straight completions, a rushing touchdown, life was good, and it got better with Nahshon Wright’s pick-six. Then the second half came and to say Williams struggled, feels like an understatement. Missed timely throws, showed poor decision making, and had a very costly intentional grounding penalty.
That was also the name of the game, penalties. At the highest level of professional football, the NFL, it is mind-blowing when a team has over a football field’s length in penalty yards. Chicago, had 12 penalties for 127 yards on Monday and while some of the calls could be questioned, there needs to be more questions about the team’s discipline.
Ben Johnson displayed a bit too much confidence and bravado in this game. Most Bears fans would’ve been happy to see the team make the smart, not aggressive, decisions when needed most. Speaking of smart, it may be wise to move on from Cairo Santos at this point.
Vinnie Parise
It is sad to say that the results of the Week 1 matchup between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings are not surprising. Each head coach, both of whom have a lot of respect placed on them right now, was conservative with their young QBs early.
Once Kevin O’Connell let JJ McCarthy loose, the Bears had no answer. By that point, it was too little too late for Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. Williams didn’t play terribly, but he didn’t play well either. Something has to be done about his defensive reads and his deep ball accuracy.
Now that the Bears are 0-1 following this disaster of a blown lead loss, there is work to do if they want to stop the bleeding. Johnson’s old team, the Detroit Lions, will be waiting in Motown with an edge because they took a bad loss this weekend as well. This can get ugly quick for Chicago, but there is film to study that they can build on with a good week of practice. If only things could always be as smooth as that opening TD scoring drive, which the Bears didn’t do once in 2024.
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