Not long ago, everyone was gushing about how great of a situation Caleb Williams was drafted into with the Chicago Bears.
There was a team in the NFC North set up very well for a new quarterback to have instant success. It just wasn’t the Bears.
The Minnesota Vikings were not challenged by the Bears on Monday night, and it wasn’t much surprise. By this point in the season, everyone can see the 12-2 Vikings are far ahead of the 4-10 Bears and that was reinforced in Minnesota’s 30-12 win. Williams’ rookie struggles continued while the Vikings tied the Lions for first place in the NFC North, and tied the Lions and Philadelphia Eagles for the best record in the NFC.
While we went on and on about the Bears’ receivers, none of them are Justin Jefferson, and Jordan Addison isn’t bad himself. The Bears signed running back D’Andre Swift, but the Vikings got a better deal on Aaron Jones. Williams has talent, but Sam Darnold has draft pedigree too and has been the far better quarterback this season. Everyone pointed to the Bears’ defensive improvement late last season and ignored how good the Vikings have been with coordinator Brian Flores. And the coaching overall proved to be no contest.
The Vikings are the surprise team in the NFL, but maybe part of the surprise is there was too much time spent congratulating the Bears in the offseason.
Bears have a rough start
The Bears have been a mess most of the season, and that’s how Monday night started.
Chicago went for it on their first possession on fourth-and-1, and Swift was stopped cold for no gain. The Vikings got a field goal out of that. On the Bears’ second drive, a leaky offensive line was a problem again, as Williams was hit from behind by Vikings defensive end Jonathan Greenard and fumbled. Minnesota recovered and turned that into a touchdown pass to Jefferson. It was 10-0 before the second Monday night game even kicked off.
The Vikings helped keep the Bears in the game after that. Jefferson, shockingly, dropped a touchdown pass. Minnesota passed on a field goal attempt on fourth-and-3, and Darnold threw incomplete under pressure. A running into the punter penalty kept a Bears drive alive and kept the Vikings from a drive that would have started in good field position.
And it mostly didn’t matter. The Bears weren’t good enough to take advantage and trailed 13-0 at halftime.
Vikings slowly pull away
The Bears’ sloppiness was shown on what should have been their first touchdown. Offensive lineman Doug Kramer came in to play fullback and lead block for Swift. Swift scored but Kramer never reported as eligible, so it was a 5-yard penalty instead of a touchdown. Crisp, well-coached teams rarely have that type of unforced error. There’s a reason the Bears will be looking for a new coach this offseason. The Bears’ drive got pushed back further by a holding penalty and they had to settle for a field goal.
When the Bears didn’t turn that sequence into a touchdown, the Vikings finally woke up for a drive. Darnold led Minnesota downfield, making a nice pass to Jefferson down to the 1-yard line, and Aaron Jones scored the next play to put the Bears in a 20-3 hole.
Monday’s Bears game looked familiar. Williams ran around trying to do too much, getting hit hard often as a result. There didn’t seem to be much plan on offense, or maybe the rookie quarterback wasn’t seasoned enough to execute it. The Vikings weren’t great most of the night, but the defense was good as usual and Minnesota was never in any danger of losing.
The Vikings continue on their roll, and nobody expected them to be 12-2 at this point of the season. Nobody expected the Bears to be 12-2 either but given the offseason hype, it should have been a lot better than what we’ve seen.