Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears looked like world-beaters out of the gate. Then the trap door of the Windy City circus tent yawned open, and they all fell through, collapsing in a 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.
Williams led the Bears to a pristine first-possession touchdown, completing all six passes and capping off the 10-play drive with a 9-yard scamper to pay-dirt. The opening script had everything from Williams: crisp, on-the-mark throws, a mouthwatering on-the-move dart to Rome Odunze, heady scrambles out of trouble, four first downs, a couple of third-down conversions, and it was capped off with the first opening drive TD of his career.
From there, however, things went awry.
The Bears generated only four more first downs the rest of the first half. In the second half, things got very hairy for Williams and the Bears, who couldn't capitalize on their defense squashing J.J. McCarthy. Eventually, the Vikings found their footing as Chicago's offense continued to get stuck in the mud. A 17-6 fourth-quarter lead wound up a 27-17 deficit with 2:59 left.
"We felt like we were dominating the game," Williams said, via the team's official transcript. "We were in control up to two scores. ... That mentality is something that we have, something that we preach. That didn't happen today."
As the game wore on, Williams seemed to press as the lead slipped away. The second-year QB's accuracy waned, missing high several times, even when he had a clean enough pocket. Several of his poor passes were of the grimace-inducing variety, including missing a wide-open D.J. Moore for a would-be TD when they were in comeback mode.
Rarely has a new era garnered so much optimism as the Ben Johnson-Caleb Williams union in Chicago. For a quarter, the marriage seemed perfect, but as things went sideways, neither the coach nor the QB could right the ship on the fly.
"I thought he started off really well," Johnson said of Williams. "I don't know, I'll have to go back and look at exactly where those incompletions came in. It certainly felt like it dried up a little bit. Probably a credit to (Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian) Flores and the Vikings, as well, making some adjustments on their end. Some things tightened up, as well."
Williams noted that one game doesn't make a season, and that he felt comfortable in Johnson's system.
"I think there was a lot of good there," the second-year QB said. "Our communication. He was getting the plays in fast. Being able to get out of the huddle, we need to be better with that. Being able to get up to the line, make checks. I think it's a growing process. It's going to keep growing from here. The start, this is the start, but definitely not the end. We'll keep growing. We'll keep being passionate about this offense, him and I, passionate about this team and winning."
Williams finished 21-of-35 passing (60%) for 210 yards with one TD pass for an 86.6 passer rating and led the Bears with 58 yards rushing on six attempts that included a TD.
The refortified offensive line began to leak in the second half as the Vikings' stout defensive line ramped up the pressure on Williams. While the QB only took two sacks, the pressure clearly got to him, leading to off-the-mark passes.
Chicago has a lot to clean up, both from the quarterback and first-time head coach, if it's to avoid back-to-back division losses, with the 0-1 Detroit Lions next on deck this Sunday.
"We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that," Johnson said. "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. 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."
The Bears have suffered four losses when leading by 10-plus points in the fourth quarter since 2023, the most in the NFL during that span.
