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Caleb Williams Had a Simple Explanation for Bears Blowing Lead vs. Vikings

Brutal Monday Night Football loss snuck up on home team.

Kyle Koster

The Bears squandered a late lead against the Vikings.
The Bears squandered a late lead against the Vikings. / David Banks-Imagn Images
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Things couldn't have gone better for the Chicago Bears during the opening hours of Monday Night Football as they built an 17-6 advantage over the Minnesota Vikings entering the fourth quarter. Things couldn't have gone any worse in the deciding quarter as Caleb Williams and first-year head coach Ben Johnson watched the visitors put up 21 unanswered points to hang a 27-24 loss on the Bears. And with that, optimism at Soldier Field quickly turned to noticeable boos and Chicago's hopes of competing for the NFC North crown took a big step back.

Williams's second year has now started on the wrong foot and, perhaps more concerning, it appears Minnesota has a lot of potential with J.J. McCarthy. Asked by local radio reporter about what happened out there to turn victory into defeat, the quarterback had a simple answer.

Guys lost their focus.

Williams's assessment is probably accurate. Yet it won't make Bears fans feel any better because if you can't maintain focus in the first game of the season when everything is going well, it's only going to get harder. Perhaps seeing McCarthy struggle significantly in the first half obviously lured the Bears into a false sense of security as they believed they would simply coast to a season-opening victory. And Johnson was conducting his business as a head coach for the first time and there's a learning curve there about managing all that goes into finishing out a win.

But still. Brutal way for Chicago's year to start.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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