Bears' Caleb Williams Says He, Ben Johnson Will 'Keep Growing' After Loss to Vikings

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had a positive outlook following the team's 27-24, season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.

Speaking to reporters after the Bears blew an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead at home, Williams expressed his belief that he and head coach Ben Johnson worked well together, and that they will continue to improve in that regard moving forward:

"I think there was a lot of good there. Our communication. He was getting the plays in fast. Being able to get out of the huddle, we need to be better with that. Being able to get up to the line, make checks. I think it's a growing process. It's going to keep growing from here. The start, this is the start, but definitely not the end. We'll keep growing. We'll keep being passionate about this offense, him and I, passionate about this team and winning."

▶️ Full Vikings-Bears Recap

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Monday marked Johnson's first game as an NFL head coach following a three-year run as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator.

Last season, the Bears fired Matt Eberflus from his head coaching position after a 4-8 start, and things didn't get much better down the stretch under interim head coach Thomas Brown, who went just 1-4.

The Bears clearly focused their head coaching search on someone who could work closely with Williams and elevate both him and the offense, and it came as little surprise that they coveted Johnson for that very reason.

During his three-year run as Detroit's OC, the Lions finished in the top five in both scoring offense and total offense each year.

Given that Johnson was able to revive the career of quarterback Jared Goff, it was widely assumed that he would be able to take Williams to the next level following an up-and-down rookie season in 2024.

Early returns were good Monday, as the Bears marched down the field on their first offensive series of the season.

Williams punctuated the 10-play, 61-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown run to give Chicago a 7-0 lead over its NFC North rival.

The Bears failed to score on their next three drives, though, before adding a field goal late in the first half to take a 10-6 lead into halftime.

While the Chicago defense put another touchdown on the board thanks to a pick six of Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the Bears' first five drives of the second half yielded no points.

It wasn't until the Bears were down 27-17 and there was just 2:02 left in the fourth quarter that Chicago found the end zone again on a one-yard touchdown pass from Williams to wide receiver Rome Odunze to cut the deficit to three.

Williams and the Bears' offense didn't really have the chance to put together a game-tying drive after that, as Johnson made the curious decision to kick the ball deep on the kickoff despite Chicago having only one timeout remaining.

The Vikings took the kickoff out of the end zone to burn the two-minute warning, ran the ball on three straight plays, and by the time they punted it back to Chicago, there were only nine seconds left in the game.

An onside kick would have at least given the Bears a chance to retain possession, or simply kicking the ball out of bounds would have preserved the two-minute warning.

That situation figures to be something Johnson can and will learn from as he becomes a more seasoned head coach, and Williams will have the opportunity to build on a solid individual performance as well.

The 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick went 21-of-35 for 210 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, while also rushing for 58 yards and one touchdown.

He was under siege from the Minnesota pass-rush for much of the game and took two sacks, while running back D'Andre Swift averaged just 3.1 yards per rush on 17 carries.

That suggests every aspect of the Chicago offense has room to improve, and it needs to happen quickly with a tough game on tap.

In Week 2, the Bears will go on the road to face Johnson's old team in the Lions, who will undoubtedly be out for redemption following a one-sided, 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 1.