Caleb: Bears offense will 'keep growing' after losing late lead

CHICAGO (AP) — The opening drive was a great start for Ben Johnson. The finish was more of the same for the Chicago Bears.

With Johnson making his debut as Chicago’s head coach, the Bears blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter of an ugly 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night. Johnson's team was flagged 12 times for 127 yards — including four false start penalties — and his offense was shut down for much of the second half.

“We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that,” Johnson said. “We made too many there late in the game, myself included. There were a number of things that I could have done better.”

Caleb Williams connected on his first 10 passes for Chicago — and then went 11 for 25 the rest of the way. He finished with 210 yards passing and a team-high 58 yards rushing, but the offense wasted a couple of opportunities to put the game away.

There were some scattered boos from what was left of the Soldier Field crowd of 58,742 when it was over — a familiar scene after Chicago dropped its last five home games on its way to a 5-12 record last season.

“I think we came out with great energy,” safety Kevin Byard said. “I think we made a lot of great plays, but at the end of the day we didn’t finish. We didn’t make the plays when we needed to make them.”

The 39-year-old Johnson was hired by Chicago in January after spending three seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.

With Johnson calling the plays, the Bears marched right down the field on their first possession. Williams scrambled for 9 yards to give the team its first touchdown on its opening drive since Week 17 of 2023 season.

“I think there was a lot of good there,” Williams said of working with Johnson. “Our communication, I think he was getting the plays in fast. ... I think it's a growing process. It's going to keep growing from here. This is the start, but definitely not the end.”

Leading 7-3, Chicago drove to the Minnesota 24 on its first drive of the second quarter. Johnson opted to go for it on fourth-and-3, and Williams threw incomplete while trying to find DJ Moore.

The Bears carried a 17-6 lead into the fourth after Nahshon Wright returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown. But J.J. McCarthy directed the Vikings to 169 yards and three TDs in the final period.

“Statistically, I really think the defense did a really good job up until the very end,” Johnson said. “You know that fourth quarter, things got away from us a little bit, but up until then they kept us in that ballgame. Offense was stalling out.”

The Bears had two chances to add to their 17-6 lead in the third and came up empty each time. Right tackle Darnell Wright was called for holding and Williams was flagged for intentional grounding on a promising drive that ended when Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth.

“When you look down at the stat sheet and you see 12 penalties, that's got to get cleaned up in a hurry,” Johnson said. “And yet we've been saying that all training camp as well. So we'll find a way to get that done.”

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