After the Chicago Bears' collapse in their loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, 27-24, the focus has now shifted to the leadership of new head coach Ben Johnson. As fans look for who to blame for the Bears' loss to the Vikings, the one aspect that the community can agree on is that the team looked the same on Monday as they have been for many seasons.
Of course, this is the first game of Chicago under Johnson, with any assessment being in a vacuum. However, fans wanted to see a change from mediocrity to a franchise that operates as a well-oiled machine and can be a force in the NFL for years to come.
Fans didn't get that, though the start was a promising one. The Bears had a 17-6 lead, as right from an efficient first drive, there could have been some people who felt a different team was ready to take the league by storm, but it then fizzled out.
“Obviously a disappointing way to start the season,” Johnson said, via NBC Sports. “To have a 17-6 lead and then see it go the way it did there in the fourth quarter — we said going in to Week One that the team that made the least number of mistakes would win the game, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that. We made too many there late in the game, myself included.”
“There were a number of things that I could have done better, a number of things that a number of guys could have done better,” Johnson continued. “When you look down at the stat sheet and see 12 penalties, that’s got to get cleaned up in a hurry, and yet, we’ve been saying that all training camp as well.”
Another Bears performance filled with sloppiness
While alarm bells could be ringing for Bears fans after the loss, the deficiencies in the game could be rectified, but it featured once again a relatively lethargic running game and a sloppy 12 penalties. It also displayed some poor decision-making on the sidelines by Johnson, like losing a challenge and a kickoff mistake towards the end of the game before the two-minute warning.
Still, another aspect that could be cleaned up is the performance of quarterback Caleb Williams, who threw for 210 yards to go along with a touchdown pass and even a score on the ground with 58 rushing yards. He would call the performance a “frustrating” one but mentioned how this is still a “growing process,” according to Audacy.com.
“It’s frustrating,” Williams said. “Something that you practice on throughout the week, something that I’ll be better with, something that you have to hit in those moments…It’s a growing process. It’s going to keep growing from here. This is the start, but it’s definitely not the end.”
Chicago looks to bounce back in Week 2, but it doesn't get any easier as the team now travels to take on the Detroit Lions in another NFC North contest.
