CHICAGO (104.3 The Score) – After Sunday, Chicago can stop referencing NFL history when describing the Bears offense under Ben Johnson.
Unless it's limited to Bears history.
Because it repeated itself in a 9-3 loss to the Vikings at Soldier Field that resembled so many blah offensive performances over the years along the lakefront, what with numerous missed blocks and opportunities reminding a crowd of 58,914 of past slogs everyone would soon forget.
The effort Sunday looked more like the 2014 Bears than the 2013 Broncos, the NFL's most prolific scoring offense that Johnson publicly targeted in the preseason.
Alas, one week after scoring 59 points on the road against the Panthers, the Bears managed a meager field goal in their home stadium.
How does that happen? It's the question that will create sleepless nights for Bears offensive coaches this week.
And yet it isn’t the most pressing one confronting the Bears after they dropped to 1-1. That nagging question involves the future of Caleb Williams, who left the game with 7:15 left after he grabbed the back of his right leg trying to escape the Vikings’ pass rush on first-and-goal from the 6-yard line.
Williams knew immediately that he had injured himself as he slid on the soggy turf in the northwest corner of the field. He required assistance leaving the field and put a towel over his head as he exited on a cart before giving a thumbs-up signal to the crowd and disappearing down the tunnel.
The Bears announced Williams suffered a hamstring injury, and Johnson downplayed the significance of the injury until learning more Monday. That update came as a relief to longtime Chicago sports fans who have endured similar injuries to other stars and immediately started to calculate a catastrophic season.
But...
"I saw him a second ago, and he's in good spirits,'' Johnson said. "I'm happy it's nothing with the knee ... That was my first inclination.''
Recovery from hamstring injuries typically range from two to four weeks, so Williams -- one of the NFL's most durable quarterbacks since entering the league in 2024 -- figures to miss at least the first start of his NFL career and likely more. This is why the Bears secured Tyson Bagent to a contract extension last season, and his 5-for-9 passing for 54 yards over the final seven minutes inspired more hope than panic.
But before anyone can look ahead at life without Williams, the Bears must take a good, hard look at why their vaunted offense struggled so mightily regardless of who took the snaps.
Williams ran for his life, too often trying to escape an unblocked rusher who forced him from the pocket. The interception that Williams threw to Byron Murphy came as he tried buying time and threw across his body.
On too many other dropbacks, Williams needed to resort to his Houdini act to escape sacks as the Bears offensive line wilted under the relentless Vikings pressure. Williams completed only 15 of 26 passes for 138 yards and a paltry 56.2 passer rating, and he was sacked three times and hit 10 times. Most of his 42 rushing yards on five carries were gained running away from men in purple who meant harm.
Most Bears breakdowns appeared to start with scheme as the Vikings blitzed as much as 75% of the time, statistical evidence showed, and too often pass-rushers outnumbered pass-protectors. In other words, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores tormented the Bears offense just as Johnson warned.
Or, put another way, Flores lived rent-free in Johnson's head all week before the game and then put his feet up and relaxed as his pressure packages humbled Johnson.
"Early on, you could feel what he wanted to do,'' Johnson said. "That's what makes going up against him so challenging. We gained momentum out of halftime and drove all the way down but then gave it up with points in the bag. Facing a good defense like that, we have to capitalize on every single opportunity.”
The Bears squandered their share. Whether it was too many unacceptable penalties or a costly red-zone turnover, the Bears were just too sloppy. That's coaching. As much praise as Johnson merited for Chicago’s historic opener at Carolina, he earned an equal amount of scrutiny after the kind of letdown most of us thought he was capable of making his team avoid.
Johnson surprisingly invoked the rainy elements – "The weather was a major factor,” he said – but that tends to discount the fact that both teams played in the same conditions. And only the Bears lost a fumble.
On the 11th play of the first drive of the third quarter, the momentum that Johnson referenced, Bears running back D’Andre Swift coughed it up when Jalen Redmond dislodged the ball and Isaiah Rodgers recovered. Instead of taking the lead or tying the game, the Bears brought their defense back on the field.
Then, on the play that could've tied the game with 6:26 left, the Bears again struggled with the field-goal operation – which is expected with a rookie long snapper – and that contributed to Rodgers blocking Cairo Santos' 23-yard chip shot.
The Vikings then marched down the field and added an insurance field goal with 1:12 left.
Not that Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz will remember this game for any other reason that it was his 100th career start. He has had better.
Wentz was 11-of-20 for 143 yards and a 77.7 passer rating. He filled in for Kyler Murray, who was out with a concussion, but hardly did anything to lay claim to the job.
The Bears defense showed improvement from a week ago, with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen dialing up the occasional blitz himself, one resulting in a sack by nickel cornerback Malik Muhammad. Stopping the run came with challenges as Aaron Jones Sr. rushed 23 times for 105 yards, but any NFL defense that allows only 246 yards at home without giving up a touchdown deserves a victory. Bears linebacker Devin Bush dropped an interception on the opening drive that would've prevented a Vikings field goal, but the margin for error must be greater if Chicago is actually going to remain a threat in the NFC North.
Can they if Williams misses a few games?
The Bears believe wholeheartedly in Bagent's command of Johnson's offense and knack for making the right decisions, but Williams offers intangibles that most other quarterbacks don’t have. Backup quarterbacks need to take football's Hippocratic oath – first, do no harm – and worry as much about not getting their team beat as helping it win. That means focusing on solid over spectacular, checkdowns over 50-50 balls and executing the play-action passing game efficiently enough to demonstrate at clinics. Bagent is more than qualified for that job, provided he isn’t forced to do it for more than a month.
The Bears still can maintain bold ambitions if Williams returns from his hamstring injury in due time. Nothing about this season's goals need to change because they lost a winnable game to a beatable opponent. But, for all that to be true, this negative must be turned into a positive by a team whose coach convinced everyone he had eradicated complacency from Halas Hall.
Sunday would suggest Johnson didn't.
The Bears just weren't as ready to win as the Vikings. They didn't beat the elements or meet the moment or create their own opportunities as well. They didn't block or tackle or execute as well, for whatever reason.
Why? The elusive answer is what makes the NFL irresistible every week, as confounding as Sunday was in a crestfallen football city.
This might end up being good for the Bears over the course of a long 18-week season, much the way a humbling loss in Week 2 was last year.
You'll remember the Bears eventually showed everyone last year that they had learned how to win.
Now, after not managing a touchdown a week after scoring 59 points, they must prove they're capable of handling success.
David Haugh hosts the Haugh & Payton Show from 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays on 104.3 The Score.
