LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The process of getting to know his quarterback has Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson looking for answers after only one game, along with overall offensive consistency.
Losing a 17-6 lead early in the fourth quarter of a 27-24 opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings showed Johnson both the strengths of second-year quarterback Caleb Williams and also problems he’s had since his rookie season.
“It was up and down,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We had mixed results. There were some things that he did that were top notch and I would put him up there with some of the best in the NFL.
“He had a couple throws with guys in his face that he delivered on target that were very tough. I thought he did a good job evading when he felt pressure and yet there were still some that we would like to have back. There were probably three or four of them that we counted on tape that, at a minimum, that we would want back.”
Going 21 for 35 for 210 yards with a touchdown wasn’t the issue as much as how it happened. Williams connected on his first 10 passes, led a drive to his first career touchdown run, and then the Bears couldn’t find the end zone again on offense until very late as his accuracy struggled.
Williams could’ve been helped by a better running game to balance out the attack. He wound up supplying the most rushing yards for the Bears with 58 on six scrambles.
“Any time you don’t rush for as many yards as you were hoping for, you look at the stat sheet and it said over 100 yards,” Johnson said. “But really, a lot of those were from Caleb. We need more from our runners, whoever that is, or our receivers in the running back room. It doesn’t matter.
“In the run game we were subpar overall.”
The pass rush had been a bit of a question mark coming into the season and they thought they had it solved by adding edge rusher Dayo Odeyingbo in free agency. He had a sack in his first game. They sacked J.J. McCarthy three times.
However, the pass rush suffered from inconsistency. The Bears held the Vikings to 134 passing yards and 254 total yards and still were down 10 in the fourth quarter without committing a turnover.
Offensive line blocking in the running game didn’t accomplish much. D’Andre Swift gained only 3.1 yards per carry with 53 yards on 17 carries and no other running back had a rushing attempt. Wide receiver DJ Moore had three carries out of the backfield and had just 8 yards.
This came after Chicago spent free agency signing center Drew Dalman and trading for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson to bulk up its offensive line.
Cornerback Nahshon Wright, playing for injured Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson, helped hold All-Pro Justin Jefferson to four catches and had his first career touchdown return, for 74 yards, after an interception in the third quarter for the 17-6 lead.
However, it wasn’t an entirely positive night for the former Cowboys and Vikings player. He had a pass interference penalty and allowed a long catch to set up two field goals.
Johnson’s reputation took a hit as a decision-maker with a failed fourth down gamble, a wasted timeout they eventually needed on an unsuccessful challenge and not having kicker Cairo Santos kick off out of bounds to save time at the end for a drive to a tying field goal.
Instead, they had to start their final possession at their 20 with 9 seconds remaining.
He blamed the challenge and kicking decision, as well as a timeout burned in the first half before the failed fourth down gamble, all on himself.
“The timeout itself, I was late getting the call in and that’s my own issue,” he said. “But we knew we wanted to go for it. We felt good about that call.”
12 — Penalties in the first game. It was the most by the Bears since Nov. 8, 2021, against Pittsburgh. One of Johnson’s goals was to improve efficiency with his attention to detail at training camp.
Work with Williams and the passing game to be ready for Johnson’s homecoming game at Ford Field against his former team on Sunday.
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