For as high as we all felt in Week 1 watching the Chicago Bears put up 59 points, it was an even lower feeling as the Bears only managed 3 points against the Minnesota Vikings. To make matters even worse, quarterback Caleb Williams hobbled off the field with a hamstring injury. Luckily, the injury isn’t as severe as feared, and he could be back in a week or two.
So many missed opportunities during the game for the Bears, and most of them were self-inflicted.
Did the rain play a factor in the Bears’
offensive ineptitude?
Yes.
But both teams had to deal with the weather. The Minnesota coaching staff seemed more prepared for the conditions, and they coached accordingly.
Chicago’s offense is at its best when it dictates tempo and imposes its will, but Minnesota’s defense was the aggressor yesterday.
Ben Johnson faced adversity as a coaching staff a season ago, and they self-scouted, refocused, and got things on track. This game feels like one of those moments that they’ll learn from.
Check out our latest Bear & Balanced right here (or on YouTube), live at 6:00 p.m. CT as we talk through the game, and spoiler alert: it probably won’t be as balanced as usual.
Podcast version right here ASAP:
Here’s our usual bullet-point outline for Bear & Balanced.
- Intro: We’ll both share some general thoughts about the game.
- Trench Tribute: Our weekly pick for the best Bears lineman.
- Sweet Tweets: We’re both active on social media (be sure you’re all following us at @gridironborn & @wiltfongjr), so we highlight one Twitter interaction/Tweet each week. We’re both also on Bluesky here and here.
- Caught up in a numbers game: This segment features one number or statistic from the game that we found interesting.
- The Caleb Corner: We talk about quarterback Caleb Williams before we take our commercial break.
- The 3 Bears: You all know the story of the Three Bears, don’t you? In this porridge-themed portion of the show, we give our picks for the Bear that was hot, the Bear that was cold, and the Bear that was just right in the game against the Vikings.
Our 2nd City Gridiron Podcast Channel is available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Audacy, and other popular podcast platforms, so hit subscribe wherever you get your audio. Our YouTube home is also called 2nd City Gridiron, so subscribe there for our pods and other video content.
