The Chicago Bears suffered a painful defeat against the Minnesota Vikings in the season opener, losing control of the game after a promising start. The match, played at Soldier Field, ended with a score of 27-24 in favor of the Vikings. The Bears’ quarterback, Caleb Williams, showed flashes of his potential in his first regular season game under Ben Johnson’s direction. Williams led a touchdown on the team’s first possession, marking the first opening touchdown for Chicago since the 2023 season. Williams started the game by completing his first 10 passes, the longest streak for a Bears quarterback to start a season since 1978. This streak helped the Bears maintain a four-point lead at halftime, which extended to 17-6 after Nahshon Wright scored a pick-six in the third quarter. However, discipline issues, execution errors, and penalties began to accumulate in the second half, preventing the Bears from securing the victory.
This loss marked the fourth time in the last four seasons that the Bears have lost a game after entering the final quarter with a double-digit lead, twice as many as any other team in that period. The Vikings scored 21 unanswered points to come back and beat the Bears in quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s first game. The turning point for Chicago came when kicker Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal. Darnell Wrught, the right tackle, commented that the team seemed to be waiting for a spark to reactivate them, and emphasized the importance of each player becoming that spark. Williams’ accuracy declined as the game went on. After completing 13 of 16 passes in the first half, Williams finished the game with a 29.4% off-target pass rate, the worst in the NFL in Week 1. The aggressiveness of Minnesota’s defense, led by defensive coordinator Brian Flores, contributed to Chicago’s downfall. The Vikings increased the pressure on Williams, with a 44% blitz in the third and fourth quarters, compared to 25% in the first half. In addition to Chicago’s offensive stagnation, penalties were a recurring problem. The team was penalized 12 times for 127 yards, including four false starts in the first half and two defensive pass interferences that resulted in 10 points for the Vikings.We felt like we were dominating the game… That mentality is something we have, something we preach. That didn’t happen today. It’s not something related to the play. It’s just being able to go out and execute the plays that are called, being able to execute them at a high level. That’s something we pride ourselves on. Today that didn’t happen.
Caleb Williams
We said the team that made the fewest mistakes would win the game. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side. We made too many mistakes at the end of the game, including myself. When you look at the stat sheet and see 12 penalties, that has to be fixed quickly, and we’ve been saying that throughout training camp. We’ll find a way to do it. It will be a collective effort. Nobody is pointing fingers.
Ben Johnson
