Windy City Gridiron
The 2025 NFL regular season is off and running after an exciting Week 1 is in the books. There were plenty of nail-biters in the early window of Sunday, and as a whole, it was a very entertaining opening week of football. Sunday night’s barnburner was a perfect end to an action-packed Sunday slate, and Monday night’s final quarter provided plenty of drama as well. In the end, the Bears came out of Week 1 at (0-1) after blowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead, despite having multiple opportunities to put the game on ice throughout the second half. Although there are plenty of lessons to be learned from Monday night, it’s hard for fans not to feel that this will be the same story with different faces. That said, let’s dive into our first in-season 10 Bears Takes of the year.
1. The Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams marriage got off to a roaring start on the opening drive, then it all fell apart.
Heading into the season, there were plenty of high hopes for the Bears’ new head coach-quarterback pairing. The duo delivered out of the gate with an impressive 10-play, 61-yard drive where Williams accounted for all but four yards on the touchdown scoring drive. Williams was a perfect six-for-six passing and capped it off with an exciting nine-yard run into the end zone.
The Bears’ second-year quarterback started 10-for-10, with primarily checkdowns, but he was decisive and had the offense moving. Then they hit a wall. Williams finished the game 21-of-35 for 211 yards (6.0 average), one throwing touchdown, no interceptions, 58 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown. On the surface, the numbers don’t look terrible, but once he disappeared after that second series, he didn’t return until his team was down 10 points, and that’s an issue no matter how you cut it.
Johnson was never going to be a miracle worker in Game 1 of a 17-game season, but the offense looked eerily similar to everything we’ve seen in recent memory. The offensive line started strong, but faded as the game progressed. The run game never truly got going. Their young quarterback, who should be primed for a big Year 2 jump, was passed up by someone taken nine picks after him (while making his first NFL start).
This is by no means a finished story for Williams in just his 18th NFL start, but it’s not a performance that any Bears fan would have hoped for. Minnesota’s defense is one of the best in the league, and that needs to be taken into account. Even so, it’s easy to feel concern about an offense that struggled in training camp and the final preseason game. There’s plenty to clean up, and this will be a long process, but in many ways, this felt like the same old Bears with different faces on the field.
2. Dennis Allen’s defense looked unstoppable over the first three quarters of the game. What happened in the fourth quarter?
Heading into...
