CHICAGO — The Bears had quite the offseason. They hired head coach Ben Johnson. They added tons of premier talent in NFL free agency and major trades. They extended general manager Ryan Poles and several key players’ contracts.
Each move excited a Bears fan base desperate for positivity, and Johnson brought hope to the city and those working inside Halas Hall.
While the coach has been around for months, the Johnson era officially started Monday night at Soldier Field, as the Bears faced the NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings in prime time, with the whole league watching.
They saw the Bears lose 27-24, and here are four main takeaways from the game.
Winnable game slips away
The Bears were in firm control for most of the night. Then things shifted in the fourth quarter, when they couldn’t do anything offensively and a defense that had dominated early started allowing explosive plays and quick scores to the Vikings, who scored 21 points in the frame.
Momentum quickly shifted and never came back Chicago’s way. Quarterback Caleb Williams looked nothing like he did early in the game, when he was being smart with the football and steadily finding positive yards, as he did on this third-down dart to Rome Odunze.
Winning in the NFL is incredibly difficult, and having a two-score lead on a division rival entering the fourth quarter at home should result in a win. The Bears let this one get away, though, and started this season on a sour note, with a rough road game Sunday at Detroit next.
Defense dominates … for three quarters
The Bears put seven defenders along the line of scrimmage in the third quarter, ready to attack Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy on a third-and-8 play. No way they all were coming, right? This had to be a ruse.
Nope. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen brought the house.
McCarthy, in his first NFL game and start, tried to get the ball out fast, to Justin Jefferson running an out route. Bears cornerback Nashon Wright read it the whole way, though, jumping the route for an interception that he returned 74 yards for a touchdown.
That was the biggest play of a game that Allen’s defense utterly dominated for three quarters. The Bears had multiple third-down sacks to end drives. They shut down the Vikings’ run game and heaped pressure on McCarthy, making it difficult to identify what the Bears’ defense was doing.
The performance particularly was notable considering the Bears were without three impact starters. Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon and T.J. Edwards were rendered inactive with injuries, but the Bears had Wright, linebacker Noah Sewell and others step up and play vital roles in this effort.
Then, in the fourth quarter, everything changed.
The Bears gave up a fourth-quarter Justin Jefferson touchdown catch that made things tight toward the end.
Then, with 9:46 left, they allowed a 27-yard Aaron Jones touchdown catch that put the Vikings ahead for the first time.
The Bears’ offense didn’t help much, with one quick series after another. The Vikings continued to surge and took over the game when it mattered most, with McCarthy’s 14-yard TD run with 2:53 left proving to be the winning score.
Training camp issues crop up again
The Bears did some good things, but not everything went right. The pre-snap penalties that plagued the Bears during training camp also showed up in this game, with plenty of false starts and two timeouts used when the Bears weren’t going to get plays off in time.
That will frustrate Johnson to no end, as will the lack of a substantive rushing attack. D’Andre Swift did some good things, but he had a difficult time running between the tackles. That’s the primary knock on the slashing runner, who can create explosive plays in space but doesn’t have tons of power.
Williams was the Bears’ leading rusher with 58 yards on six carries — a bad sign for a team that couldn’t impactfully run the ball inside. Swift finished with 17 carries for 53 yards — a 3.1 average.
Oh, and the penalties. The Bears were flagged 12 times for 127 yards, which took the wind from their sails after a strong start that wasn’t sustained.
Bears enjoy a great start (and not much else)
The Bears started the game about as well as they could have, with a TD drive sandwiched between two defensive three-and-outs.
The defense made life difficult on McCarthy, with sacks from Gervon Dexter Sr. and Dayo Odeyingbo to halt dives.
The first Bears series was excellent from start to finish. Williams completed all six of his pass attempts, including the laser to Odunze to convert a third down. Williams also had his first career rushing touchdown with a 9-yard scamper that capped the 10-play, 61-yard drive in 5:41.
Even more encouraging than the splash plays was Williams’ willingness to use checkdowns to stay on schedule. That’s a marked improvement that coaches preached all summer and should be a huge benefit if the second-year pro continues to use it.
Overall, though, the Bears’ offensive effort wasn’t nearly good enough. Williams — who finished 21-of-35 passing for 210 yards — added a TD pass to Odunze just before the two-minute warning, with a bunch of punts, a field goal and a missed field-goal attempt in between.