After the hype and trash talk this offseason about how bad J.J. McCarthy is, how Ben Johnson will turn Caleb Williams into Tom Brady, “this is our year,” it’s time to put it to rest.
The Minnesota Vikings stood on business and came into Soldier Field to beat the Chicago Bears at home 27-24 on the NFL’s first Monday Night of the season.
What went wrong?
The Bears’ defense really pulled a typical Baltimore Ravens defense at the end of the game. Chicago’s lead held all game, but they wet the bed all in the fourth quarter. Embarrassing.
McCarthy put on a clinic in the fourth quarter with two passing TDs and one rushing TD, 21 unanswered points for Chicago’s defense. They had only given up two FGs the entire three quarters of the game.
The Vikings team put a “C” on McCarthy’s jersey for a reason; they know he will lead them to wins and never say “never,” cutting close in the third quarter.
Williams had some ups when it came to scrambling, giving him one rushing TD, but he also had his downs. There were some overthrows, and just some inconsistent accuracy.
Knowing the madman that Johnson is, he’ll be rewatching this film day and night to find any imperfection he sees to make sure these issues don’t happen again.
Kevin O’Connell is an offensive guru, winning Super Bowl LVI as the Rams’ offensive coordinator. In Minnesota, he turned Sam Darnold from a journeyman backup bust into a 14-3 playoff contender
O’Connell can start from scratch to build the 22-year-old McCarthy into one of the best young QBs in the league, after coaching veterans like Matthew Stafford, Kirk Cousins, and Sam Darnold.
The Bears head to the Motor City next week to take on yet another divisional opponent, the Detroit Lions. A huge revenge game for Johnson to prove himself worthy of leaving a team on the cusp of a Super Bowl, to help a young rising star in Chicago.
During the offseason, the Lions had statements all around that the Bears taking five coaches from their staff wouldn’t change a thing, and they could still be Super Bowl contenders…Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers thought otherwise.
This game will be crucial to see who falls dead last in the NFC North, with both teams being 0-1. Detroit was not in their Sunday best in Green Bay, but neither was Chicago. This will be a momentous game to see who can come off a loss better.
Did Johnson’s debut suck? No, but it was disappointing. There was so much hype for this offense to be high-powered, flying on all cylinders, 40 points a game type of conversations. Except for the first few drives, they just looked stale. Granted, it was week one; there are plenty more games to show up. It’s time to shrug it off and look forward to Johnson’s revenge game to get the Bears to 1-1.
For more NFL articles, click here to read more.
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter here. Check out Stadium Rant Original shows on our Youtube channel and subscribe! Give our socials Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok a follow for more great content!
