There’s a lot to love about Ben Johnson but his focus on hunting explosive plays may be my favorite part of his football philosophy. The Bears logged nine explosive plays (a run of 10 or more yards or a pass of 20 or more yards) in Sunday’s monster victory against the Carolina Panthers. Four of those explosive plays were on touchdowns and the other five led to scores. That’s the most in the Ben Johnson era and a preview of the big things to come this season. We’ll track all of them weekly in this column.
Explosive Play 1.1 – Q1 8:19, 1st and 10 at the Carolina 45. D’Andre Swift carries the ball off right tackle for 32 yards. The possession would end in a TD.
After the Bears turned the ball over on the opening possession, they got things rolling on a scoring drive highlighted by this Swift explosive play. Last year, many of the big runs put up by the Bears were to the right side of the offensive line, so it was fitting to have the first explosive play of the season feed off Darnell Wright.
The Bears huddle here with 11 personnel (1 running back, 1 tight end, 3 wide receivers) and line up in an I-Formation with Cole Kmet as the fullback. Luther Burden starts on the right side of the formation next to Rome Odunze, motioning to the left side before the snap. Darnell Wright kicks his defender off to the right. Jonah Jackson and Garrett Bradbury try to work a double team with Kmet leading into the four hole (between the right guard and right tackle). Bradbury leaves the double team early when Jackson powers his defender off to the right, leaving the center to pick up a linebacker at the second level.
It’s well-blocked and Swift encounters first contact about 6 yards from scrimmage. After that, it’s an incredible display of running from Swift, breaking out of two tackles at the point of contact and quickly juking a third defender, maneuvering back to the middle of the field before getting chased down. Swift gets a ton of the credit here.
Explosive Play 1.2 – Q1 3:01, 2nd and 8 at the Chicago 47. Caleb Williams pass complete deep right to Rome Odunze for 47 yards. The possession would end in a TD.
This is one of those plays I’ve been dreaming about since early last season when it was clear Caleb Williams had a special talent in avoiding pressure. This is a scramble drill success play and one of those aspects of the Bears offense that could take this thing to the stratosphere.
The Bears break the huddle in 11 personnel but split Loveland out to the left side of the formation with Luther Burden. Caleb drops back, looks right, looks left, and flushes to his right. Odunze senses the scramble drill starting and flies down the field with his hand in the air. Caleb throws the ball a little late or short, but it’s either going to be a defensive pass interference or an Odunze catch given the position of the defender scrambling to make back the space.
Odunze reaches over the head and pulls in a highlight throw. While this isn’t the play that is scripted, the scramble drill is something that desperately needed work from last season and something Ben Johnson has mentioned as an area of focus. Early returns are good.
Explosive Play 1.3 – Q2 14:05, 1st and 10 from the Carolina 22. Caleb Williams pass complete deep left to Cole Kmet for 22 yard TD.
This play-action pass elicited an audible gasp-turned-maniacal-laugh from me when it happened. The Bears come out in 13 personnel (3 tight ends!) with the rookie Sam Roush lined up next to Kmet and Loveland on the right side, Jahdae Walker the lone wide receiver to the left. Walker runs a route to the post pulling the boundary defender with him long enough for Caleb to fit a perfect (and I mean perfect) ball into Kmet for the score. Cole’s route starts as if he’s down blocking to the left and quickly heads up field on a TE leak play. The defender does a nice job sticking with him but no defending a perfect pass.
Explosive Play 1.4 – Q2 1:14, 3rd and 11 from the Chicago 19. Caleb Williams pass complete deep left to Kalif Raymond for 28 yards. This was the first of three explosive plays on the drive that ended the half with a TD.
Jump man back at it! This amazing end of the half sequence started with this beauty to Kalif Raymond. The Bears come out in 11 personnel with Loveland lined up tight next to Braxton Jones and three receivers to the right. Luther Burden motions to the left and Caleb takes the snap from shotgun. Caleb pump fakes short to Rome and starts to scramble to his left before firing a jump man pass into Raymond near midfield. Raymond makes a sliding catch and the Bears are in business.
Explosive Play 1.5 – Q2 0:38, 2nd and 10 from the Chicago 47. Caleb Williams pass complete deep left to Luther Burden for 24 yards. This was the second of three explosive plays on the drive that ended the half with a TD.
Two plays later, Williams and Burden connect for a nice little gainer. Sticking with 11 personnel, Loveland is flexed out to the left side with Burden. Loveland runs an underneath route with Burden working intermediate. Burden does a nice job at the top of his stem with a juke before breaking inside with separation. Caleb finds him in rhythm with Burden adding a few additional yards after the catch. Solid pitch and catch.
Explosive Play 1.6 – Q2 0:32, 1st and 10 from the Carolina 29. Caleb Williams scrambles around left end for 29 yard touchdown. This was the third of three explosive plays on the drive that ended the half with a TD.
This was great recognition on the part of Caleb to evade pressure and know that he could get a good gain with man coverage. The Panthers bring only four here but fail to leave anyone to spy on Williams. As the onset of pressure, Caleb tucks the ball to flee the pocket and takes off with his world class speed. Seeing that the coverage was blanketing his receivers in man coverage, the speed of Williams made this an easy touchdown – but don’t discount that there are very few quarterbacks that can reach the sprint speed that Williams has put on film in his young career.
Explosive Play 1.7 – Q3 0:50, 1st and 10 from the Chicago 39. Kyle Monangai runs up the middle for 61 yard TD.
Now we’re just showing off. The Bears take over on downs up 38-31 and score a monster touchdown with Monangai. The Bears use basic 11 personnel with Kmet attached to the right side of the formation. Burden comes in short motion left to right and acts of a lead blocker for Monangai. Raymond scores an excellent block at the point of attack about five yards from scrimmage, allowing Monangai to cut off that block to the right. From there it’s a race to the end zone with Walker providing a…hands up block to slow down one Panthers defender and Monangai using just enough jet fuel to pull off a 61-yarder. This really broke the game.
Explosive Play 1.8 – Q4 8:52, 3rd and 4 from the Carolina 21. Kyle Monangai runs over left guard for 14 yards. This possession would end with a TD.
The Bears come out in 11 personnel and line up in shotgun. They threw a lot from this formation on Sunday. Loveland provides some eye candy with a sprint out from his spot back and to the right of Darnell Wright a second before the snap. It’s a motion that can cause a hesitation from the defenders, useful when handing to ball in the opposite direction as the Bears did here. Monangai takes the handoff from Williams aiming for what looks like the gap between left guard and left tackle. However, Darnell Wright and company collapses everything down to the left and Monangai does an excellent job of cutting back to the middle. Monangai gets first contact around 9 yards downfield, bouncing off a defender and carrying another for an additional five yards. How good is this dude?
Explosive Play 1.9 – Q4 3:47, 2nd and 1 from the Carolina 28. D’Andre Swift runs over right guard for 28 yard TD.
Pouring it on now, D’Andre Swift provides the exclamation point. There’s literally nothing particularly special about this design or even how it’s blocked. It’s 12 personnel with Loveland and Kmet providing key blocks at the point of attack off the right side (surprise surprise, Darnell Wright again!) and the Panthers…poor run fits and maybe a little bit of give up here as Swift just explodes through the point of attack and races to the end zone for his third score and caps the 59 point extravaganza from Chicago. Swift bookends the nine explosive plays for the Bears on the opening weekend, helping him secure the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award.
2026 Explosive Play Count: D’Andre Swift 2, Kyle Monangai 2, and one each for Kalif Raymond, Rome Odunze, Caleb Williams, Luther Burden, and Cole Kmet.
What was your favorite explosive play from the opener? You could make an argument for a lot of them, but right now, I think my favorite is that Cole Kmet TD. Hit up the comments and let me know.
