CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears were in control of the division rival Minnesota Vikings for most of Monday’s season opener at Soldier Field only to see their efforts squandered in a 27-24 loss.
That fast start was sparked by quarterback Caleb Williams in his first regular-season game under Ben Johnson. After going his entire rookie season without leading a touchdown drive on the Bears’ opening possession, Williams recorded his first career rushing touchdown and Chicago’s first opening-drive TD since the 2023 season.
He did so by completing his first 10 passes, which marked the longest streak by a Bears quarterback to start a season opener since 1978 and the most consecutive completions in his NFL career. It helped the Bears to carry a four-point lead into halftime that extended to a 17-6 margin after cornerback Nahshon Wright recorded a pick-six in the third quarter.
But as penalties, execution issues and mistakes piled up in the second half, Chicago’s inability to close out another opponent felt reminiscent of previous seasons.
“We felt like we were dominating the game, like you said,” Williams said. “We were in control up to two scores coming out of half. That mentality is something that we have, something that we preach. That didn’t happen today. It’s not a play call thing. It’s not anything like that. It’s just being able to go out there and execute the plays that are called, be able to execute them at a high level. That’s something we take pride in.
“Today that didn’t happen.”
Monday night marked Chicago’s fourth loss in the last four seasons when entering the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead. The Bears have twice as many of those losses as any other team over that span.
“I think you certainly feel it when you’re on the sideline there,” Johnson said of the momentum shift. “You got it moving, got it going, then all of a sudden it starts going backwards. Negative plays are happening, whether it’s penalties or the intentional grounding, things of that nature. it cost us some points big-time.”
The Vikings rattled off 21 unanswered points to come from behind and beat the Bears in quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s first game. As Minnesota’s offense captured momentum with three consecutive touchdown drives in the final frame, the Bears saw the game change after Williams was flagged for intentional grounding late in the third quarter. The turning point for Chicago came two plays later when kicker Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal.
“I feel like we (were) maybe waiting on somebody to be a spark or something like that, or just get us back in the flow,” right tackle Darnell Wrught said. “I feel like just getting back on page and just trying to be the spark yourself, that’s really it.”
Williams was unable to sustain his own fast start as his accuracy waned.
After completing 13 of his 16 passes in the first half, Williams finished the game with an NFL-worst off-target rate 29.4% in Week 1.
Part of that has to do with Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores getting more aggressive with bringing pressure. After blitzing Williams on 25% of his dropbacks in the first half, the Vikings blitzed Williams 44% of the time in the third and fourth quarter.
Beyond Chicago’s offense growing stagnant, perhaps the most alarming part of Monday night’s loss was part of a trend that concerned Johnson throughout the preseason. Chicago was flagged 12 times for 127 yards, which included four false starts in the first half and two defensive pass interference penalties that led to 10 points.
“We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that. We made too many there late in the game, myself included.
“When you look down at the stat sheet and you see 12 penalties, that’s got to get cleaned up in a hurry, yet we’ve been saying that all training camp, as well. We’ll find a way to get that done. It’s going to be a collective effort. No one’s pointing fingers.”