Caleb Williams entered Week 1 with something to prove, but after his up-and-down showing in the team’s disappointing loss to the Minnesota Vikings, he left everyone watching with more questions than answers.
The first thirty minutes belonged to Williams and the Bears. He looked poised and efficient, completing his first ten passes and finishing the half 13-of-16 for 112 yards. He added 32 rushing yards and scored his first career rushing touchdown. Caleb was pumped. Fans were hyped. And then, it all unraveled.
The second half told a very different story. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores turned up the pressure and knocked Williams off his rhythm. The Bears QB went just 8-19 for 98 yards in the second half, often looking disjointed while overthrowing multiple receivers during key moments.
Compounding matters were the mistakes that have haunted the Bears for years: twelve penalties totaling 127 yards, a missed 50-yard field goal by Cairo Santos and questionable clock management from the sideline. A 17–6 lead evaporated into a 27–24 loss — and after the game, Williams made one telling comment in particular.
Caleb Williams on Bears’ Week 1 Loss to Vikings: Everyone Lost Focus
Via Peggy Kusinski of ESPN Chicago, Williams said after the loss that “everybody’s focus kind of went away. … We got to finish games.”
Oof. For a team that’s supposed to be forging a new identity centered around being focused and hard-nosed, that’s not a good sign. If the quarterback himself believes the team’s focus cracked in the very first game of the season, it raises the question of whether the Bears’ culture has truly shifted under first-year head coach Ben Johnson. Great quarterbacks can overcome bad nights, but great teams rarely overcome chronic lapses in discipline.
To be fair, Williams did not sugarcoat anything. “We felt like we were dominating the game. We were in control,” Williams noted. “That mentality, that is something that we have, something that we preach. We didn’t have that today.”
Ben Johnson Takes Accountability for His Own Mistakes in Loss to Minnesota
GettyCaleb Williams says the Chicago Bears all lost focus towards the end of their Week 1 matchup vs. the Vikings.
Johnson, for his part, did not deflect blame. He acknowledged his own mistakes, from a poorly timed challenge to a kickoff management gaffe. “We said going into Week 1 that the team that made the least number of mistakes would win the game, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that; we made too many there late in the game, myself included,” Johnson said.
Williams saying the team lost focus suggests that even after an offseason designed to reset the franchise, the Bears are still fragile in the moments that matter most. That fragility has been a defining feature of Chicago’s last several seasons, and the fear among fans is that it will persist even as new leadership takes over. Williams showed growth, composure and the playmaking ability that made him the first overall pick, but he also air-mailed far too many throws he should have made.
If there is hope to be found, it lies in the fact that both player and coach recognized the problem immediately. Still, it is the kind of postgame pain that lingers, because it frames the loss not as a battle of talent but as a failure of mentality. And in a league where focus separates contenders from pretenders, that is an ugly way to begin a season.
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