Bear Digest

Chicago Bears Week 1: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Analysis: Ben Johnson's debut was nothing better health, accurate passing and maybe some sod that actually looks like grass can't help.
Gene Chamberlain|
Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy bulls into the end zone for a decisive touchdown in the fourth quarter in Monday night's Bears loss.
Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy bulls into the end zone for a decisive touchdown in the fourth quarter in Monday night's Bears loss. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears tight end Cole Kmet sifted through the negativity and mistakes in Monday's 27-24 loss to Minnesota afterward and tried to find a place to hang a smile, if not a thumbs up.

It seemed like he had to do a fairly extensive search.

"I've actually had my fair share of opening day wins and down the road they can end up not meaning as much as you think they do," he said of openers. "So hopefully that's the case with this one."

There's always hope but Kmet also as been with the Bears long enough to  know that when a potential worst-case scenario exists it's probably the most likely one until proven otherwise.

That one defeat could easily come back to haunt the Bears in the playoff chase.

Then again, this would mean there will be at least a hope they make a run at the playoffs and saying that will happen requires even more optimism at this point than Kmet displayed with his comment.

Still it was probably one of the good things said after Monday's loss.

Here are the other good things about the game, along with the bad and the ugly.

The Good

1985 Bears

Seeing a lot of the 1985 Bears at the game, including Jim McMahon, and seeing the Lombardi Trophy taken out of that case they keep it in up at Halas Hall collecting dust was a real treat.

Willie Gault still looks like he could run a 4.3 40.

It might have been since the 2019 100-year anniversary celebration that they had this many of the franchise's only Super Bowl champions back together. It's too bad they had to do it at a game with such a disappointing ending, but then again it's hard to get lucky with those things when there have been so few positive endings to games in the decades since that Super Bowl was won.

Bears receivers

When given the chance, when actually trusted to be targets, when actually seen by the QB in the secondary running open, they looked like they can do damage in this offense. Rome Odunze had only 37 yards with his six receptions but one reason the yardage was so limited is on catch was a 1-yarder but was for a touchdown. His 17-yard catch was spectacular as Caleb Williams threw on the scramble along the sidelines and Odunze somehow kept both feet in bounds. DJ Moore hauled in three and had good yards after the catch while averaging 22.7 yards while getting wide open on two there's when Williams first threw wildly incomplete on fourth down and then another time didn't even see him. Cole Kmet made another spectacular downfield catch when everyone told us Colston Loveland was the tight end who was supposed to catch it 31 yards downfield. 

It's too bad some of their efforts weren't more obvious to everyone, particularly their quarterback.

Nahshon Wright

Sure, he gave up a pass interference guarding a running back 42 yards downfield to set up a field goal and allowed a last-second Jalen Nailor 28-yard catch before halftime to set up a 59-yard field goal, but he made up for those points with his pick-6 and generally played well for a backup guarding Justin Jefferson.

They've had a lot worse games against Jefferson than four catches, 44 yards and a TD. Pro Football Focus gave him the highest grade of any Bears defensive player in the game.

Dayo Odeyingbo

He had two penalties for being overaggressive but did make a sack, deflected a pass, had two quarterback hits and a tackle or loss after a preseason when everyone wondered if he still had a pulse.

The Bad

Defensive health

Jaylon Johnson, T. J. Edwards and Kyler Gordon probably comprise their three most dependable defensive players, even though Montez Sweat is the highest paid. It's when the games are on the line that you really need your best players and the Bears didn't have them. Nor did they have Gordon's backup, Josh Blackwell. The really bad part is that it's going to be touch and go whether they have any of the four back next game. Even Wright has an injury now, a calf that he hurt breaking up a pass.

Ben Johnson's game decisions

The fourth-down gamble too early in the game that Williams made worse by missing a wide open DJ Moore threw away three points in a game they lost by three. The decision to use a challenge on a ball T.J. Hockenson caught but then lost after being touched was too risky. He obviously was down on the ground and they needed a perfect camera angle to prove he hadn't been touched before the ball was stripped by Noah Sewell. They didn't have it and the reversal required indisputable evidence since it had been ruled down. The timeout lost came up huge with the Bears trailing 27-24 and hoping to get the ball back at the end.

Finally, the decision on special teams to kick off through the end zone was probably not the wisest because Cairo Santos' leg strength isn't as good as his accuracy. An onside kick wasn't really a good idea because it might have wound up eating up clock but definitely would have surrendered about 15 yards of field position if they didn't recover it. But Johnson could have simply had Santos kick off out of bounds to keep the clock from running. Doing that would have given up only 5 yards of field position compared to where it would have been with a kick through the end zone, but was less risky.

Also, you have to wonder what happened to adjusting in game to what Minnesota started doing on defense.

Running the football

D'Andre Swift didn't have much room to maneuver. He ran tough when necessary, but he needed to run tough far too often. The run blocking didn't materialize after they rebuilt the offensive line.

The ugly

Richard Hightower's special teams

The Vikings tradtionally haven't been a really good special teams group. Tory Taylor's low kicks, Cairo Santos' missed field goal and poor kickoff, a coverage team unable to prevent returns averaging 17 yards on punts ... just not acceptable when special teams have often won games for the team in the past.

Penalty flags

Pass interference will unfortunately happen when you play a lot of man-to-man coverage. Jonah Jackson twice, Darnell Wright and DJ Moore committed false starts on their own field. What will happen when they're in noisy Ford Field? And by the way, the flag thrown on Wright for holding was just as ugly for the officials as the false starts were for the Bears offense. The official should have been holding ... onto his flag.

Caleb Williams

Even his TD drive early in the game didn't look sharp. Passes were behind the receiver or making them reach or were dump offs thrown when he didn't see the open receiver downfield. The worst thing about Williams was he then went from bad to worse, or ugly, as the game went on. And meanwhile, J.J. McCarthy in his first start looked better and better as the game went on. No, Williams isn't responsible or how McCarthy plays, but a QB in his 18th game and playing at home should look better.

Soldier Field's sod

Brutal. Another city of Chicago debacle. It couldn't have been a coincidence Kevin Warren put out a letter that essentially said nothing more than they already have about the stadium project in Arlington Heights. The plan to have so smany concerts and replace the sod a week before the season is out and out just terrible turf management. Kristofer Hivju, who does the Scott's Turfbuilder commercials, definitely wouldn't approve.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.