Daily Norseman
September 8th marked the first Monday Night Football game of the 2025 NFL season, which featured the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears, in a showdown at Soldier Field. I am not sure if I am the only one that feels this way, but I thought the pre-game presentation on ESPN was pretty terrible. The segment where Peyton Manning was talking about Tony Dungy and Devin Hester seemed out of place. Where was the history of the NFC North Rivalry between Minnesota and Chicago? Eli Manning was sounding like he showed up 5 minutes before he was supposed to be on TV. He was spouting off some nonsense about Adam Thielen, after mispronouncing his name. When the discussion between Van Pelt and the Mannings became focused J.J. McCarthy and his first start, SVP said to two hall-of-fame quarterbacks, “you can’t imagine what J.J. McCarthy is feeling before his first start.” Um…. what? I think they might have at least an inkling of what our franchise quarterback might have been feeling. Just a terrible presentation, which was handed over to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman…..ugh. My feelings about the broadcast reflect how the Vikings started the game.
It was a typical Vikings/Bears showdown for most of the first half. Some tough play in the trenches without a whole lot of scoring. Minnesota started with the ball and McCarthy just seemed a step behind. There were a couple of protection issues, but the offensive line definitely got better as the night went on. This is my first regular season writing about the Minnesota Vikings, so I was writing down notes during the game. The first half was so uneventful, that my first observation came with 5:52 left in the 2nd quarter. That was the point where you could see the Minnesota defense settling in. After giving up a touchdown on Chicago’s opening drive, you could start to see Ben Johnson’s early game scripting start to fizzle out. Caleb Williams looked crisp tonight and definitely showed off his athleticism and arm talent. I was also impressed with his decision making, finding checkdowns when nothing was open down field. He was getting outside the pass rush and was finding a lot of success rolling out of the pocket when things broke down, until he wasn’t.
The Vikings defensive linemen were just a step behind Williams during the first quarter, but they were consistently moving him off of his spot, generating pressure on the second-year signal caller. There were a couple of miscues by the Bears offense. One of which was an errant throw that led to a turnover on downs in the second. Toward the end of the 2nd quarter, I’ll admit, I was a little worried. J.J. seemed like he was trying to be too perfect. However, I think he was taking what the defense was giving him. What stood out the most to me in the first half was ball...
