After the Whistle: First impressions of the Bears' 27-24 loss to the Vikings
It was all too familiar on Monday night.
The false hope gave way to bitter disappointment at the end. The mistakes that were always there in training camp reared their heads when it was time for meaningful football.
On Monday Night Football, the Bears got a reality check when the lights were at their absolute brightest. It’s the same ol’ story, song and dance.
The 27-24 collapse to the NFC North rival Vikings was as bitter as any of the previous five Soldier Field losses to Minnesota. Now, the Bears have lost six straight games at home to the Vikings.
"The effort was there," Safety Kevin Byard said. "I think as a team, I think we played with great effort. We just didn't finish. I think we played three quarters of great football, but in this league, when you're going against playoff teams, you have to finish."
The team with a head coach coming off a 14-win season played like one. The other team played like they had a head coach in his first-ever game at the helm.
Which one had the quarterback in his first-career start again?
Monday was a disappointing start for the Ben Johnson era. He knows it as much as the rest of the Bears’ fandom knows it. But, this was always a game that was going to happen in Year 1 under Ben Johnson. It was as unavoidable as the never-ending construction on I-94.
You can’t escape growing pains for a first-year head coach trying to rectify a team that’s coming off one of the most disastrous seasons in recent history. It was always going to take time.
That can’t be forgotten just one game into Johnson’s tenure. Bears fans want more; it’s why the boo birds flew as the offense began to sputter. They flew as the score officially went final, too.
"There were a number of things that I could’ve done better," Johnson said.
Johnson had a playoff team on the ropes. For as much as he excelled at doing teams in as the Lions’ offensive coordinator, he had elite talents across the board in Detroit. He has no such luck Year 1 in Chicago.
Still, he has a team that’s talented enough to go up 17-6 on the Vikings. That can’t be overlooked.
The Bears’ defense is legit. Johnson schemed up a first drive that ended in a touchdown. When the defense bent, it didn’t break. Instead, it punched back with a 74-yard pick-six."The defense did a really good, up until the very end," Johnson said. "They kept us in the ball game."
Unfortunately, the defense didn’t have another touchdown up its sleeve. They were, instead, on the field for 9:57 of game time in the fourth quarter. The offense that mustered that opening-drive score couldn’t find that one final drive to put the game away.
Bears right tackle Darnell Wright said the team was looking around, waiting for someone to create a spark. While they were waiting, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell found ways to put his quarterback in a position to win the game. That resulted in 21 fourth-quarter points. Johnson needed to do the same, and didn’t.
That’s the difference between the coach who was in game No. 1 vs. the coach who was in game No. 55.
The Bears went from having the chance to deliver the knockout blow to giving O’Connell a chance to recover and load up his own knockout punch. The latter didn’t miss. Finding that killer instinct is how the Bears win games.
"That mentality is something that we have, something that we preach," quarterback Caleb Williams said. "That didn't happen today. It's not a play call thing. It's not anything like that. It's just being able to go out there and execute the plays that are called, be able to execute them at a high level. That's something we take pride in. Today that didn't happen."
Instead, the Bears are back to the square one they’ve been stuck on for years.
"They played a better whole game than we did," Tight end Cole Kmet said. "We had opportunities and were trying to close it out, and we didn't do that."
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears reacts on the sideline during the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field on September 08, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
It’s frustrating to no end, trying different avenues and getting the same results.
It’s even more frustrating to be told to be patient, especially when the results have been the same for what has literally been years. It’s the same old story Chicagoans know so well.
Williams should have hit the throws he normally makes. Johnson should have an ace up his sleeve for when the offense slowed to a tantalizing halt. The defense should have made one more play. The offensive line could have committed one less penalty.
But, if one of the misses above had hit, it wouldn’t have been the same ol’ story, song and dance.
However, being that close is a moral victory. Those don’t count in football.
It’s back to the drawing board. The lesson from Monday Night Football is simple: Johnson will have this team in a position to put teams away. When the Bears have an opportunity to be the killers, they need to do exactly that. Or else, they’ll keep being the team on the receiving end of a knockout punch.
It's a lesson Johnson took in Game 1 as the Bears head coach. That's something he can learn from as he grows with a team he believes he can win with now.
"This is the start, but definitely not the end," Williams said. "We'll keep growing. We'll keep being passionate about this offense, him and I, passionate about this team and winning."
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