Daily Norseman
A new NFL season is officially upon us, and that means that it’s time for our opportunity to get some intel about the Minnesota Vikings’ opponent for this week from one of our fellow SB Nation football sites.
We’re getting our annual trip to Chicago out of the way early this year, and because of that, we’re sitting down with the folks from Windy City Gridiron to exchange a few questions. Bill Zimmerman was kind enough to answer the questions I had for him this week, and that Q&A is below. When Bill posts my answers to his questions over at WCG, I will link them here for you.
1) This matchup between the Vikings and the Bears will feature the third different Chicago head coach in the last three games. Ben Johnson was the hot name among coaching prospects this past offseason, and the Bears managed to lure him to Chicago to take over. How have things changed during the Ben Johnson era thus far?
Well, the fan base is riding high right now. Ben Johnson may not have been a unanimous first choice among fans before the higher (Mike Vrabel), but I feel like 75 to 80% of the fan base wanted Johnson. The one concern after the hire was, “Is Ben Johnson a leader of men?” Many people thought Johnson just wanted to be in front of a whiteboard, drawing up plays, and he wasn’t going to lead a locker room. That has been completely disproven. Ben Johnson demands a lot of his players. He’s driven. Sometimes he comes across like a psycho (in a good way). This guy breathes football. There is accountability around this team, and the vibes are great in Chicago right now, as I think fans think the Bears may have finally gotten the coaching hire right.
2) Part of the reason that Johnson was brought in was to work with Caleb Williams, who by all accounts was absolutely mismanaged by Matt Eberflus and company in his rookie year. Even though the sample size is limited, have you seen any significant changes in Williams to this point?
I don’t think we’ve seen enough from Caleb Williams at this point to know if there’s been a significant change. We have seen some inconsistent play during practices and in training camp, but that’s to be expected during installs while he learns a new offense. We’ve still seen and heard about some fantastic plays and some great work by the offense, but it’s been inconsistent.
I don’t think anyone is concerned about it because we understand the situation, but if anyone is saying that any issues that plagued Caleb in 2024 are 100% gone, that’s just not something we can say at this point. We all know what the biggest issue is: Williams needs to get the ball out faster, and while it may not be perfect, I do think we will see him do that more consistently this season.
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