The Chicago Bears’ home opener on primetime Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings resulted in a brutal loss, one that us Bears fans have seen play out too many times to count. Knowing how much time, energy, and resources the front office threw at this team during the offseason makes this loss especially difficult to bear (no pun intended). However, I’ll be the first one to say it: the sky isn’t falling in Chicago, not yet at least. This is a young, talented team paired with a young, bright coaching
staff. There were a lot of bright spots that shone through all the ugliness on Monday. As the season unfolds, these are the things this team needs to go out there and do more of. Here are this week’s Windy City Honors superlative awards:
Best Play of the Week
Cornerback Nashon Wright’s Pick Six was one of those jump-up-from-the-couch moments from Monday’s game. Wright intercepts a pass from J.J. McCarthy and returns it 74 yards for a touchdown. Wright is a new addition to the team as the Bears signed him to a one-year contract this past April. This play will certainly be one to remember, and in my opinion, was the most exciting play from the game.
Best Play Design
Caleb Williams hits a wide-open Rome Odunze in the endzone for six right before the 2-minute warning. Ben Johnson is well known for his ability to scheme players open, and this play is a great example of that. I am hoping to see a whole lot more of these types of plays all season long.
Best Coaching Moment of the Week
After a difficult loss like this, fans look to the coaches and players to take accountability, explain what went wrong, and work towards fixing it for the week ahead. After the loss on Monday, Johnson did just that.
Johnson took the blame for a couple of wasted timeouts that occurred during Monday night’s game. In the second quarter, Johnson was late getting a play in on 4th and 3, causing the team to burn through a timeout. In a recent press conference, Ben explained, “I was late getting the call in, and that’s my own issue.” He also expressed remorse in wasting another timeout by throwing the challenge flag when Bears linebacker Noah Sewell punched the ball out of Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson’s hands, noting it wasn’t the recommendation he received from the booth. “Yeah, I saw — I thought I saw knees up, and so that’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job listening to the guys up top. I got influenced a little bit for the first time with the people around me, and I need to stay true to the process.”
In that same press conference, Johnson also opened up about the role he felt he played in the loss. “I didn’t think I called a particularly great game. I could’ve adjusted a little bit better to the lack of pressure that Flo [Brian Flores] was giving us, and I can do a better job there. At the end of the game, felt like we could kick it out of the back. We weren’t able to get that done. In hindsight, I should have kicked it out of bounds.”
Each one of these missteps is a learning moment for a first-time head coach, and Johnson owned them. He gave the needed context of how and why they happened, and by taking accountability and responsibility for these mistakes, we can only hope he learned from them.
