Ben Johnson has been the head coach for one game, and Chicago already looks different. Caleb Williams threw four touchdown passes and Chicago beat the Minnesota Vikings 31-17 at Soldier Field, opening the 2026 season with the kind of statement performance the Bears have been waiting years to see.
Williams finished 26 of 34 for 289 yards with zero interceptions and a passer rating of 141.3. His footwork in the pocket looked cleaner, his decision-making faster, and his connection with DJ Moore looked like it had been building since April, not just training camp.
The offensive scheme that Johnson brought from Detroit is exactly what the Bears needed. Chicago motioned pre-snap on 78 percent of its offensive snaps, forced Minnesota into base defense against 11 personnel, and turned quick throws to Rome Odunze into 40-yard gains after the catch.
Minnesota was not bad. J.J. McCarthy threw for 261 yards in his first Week 1 start and Justin Jefferson had eight catches for 112 yards. But the Vikings offense stalled twice in the red zone in the second half, and every drive that ended in a field goal felt like a lost opportunity.
The Bears defense deserves a huge share of the credit. Montez Sweat had two sacks. Rookie linebacker Ruke Orhorhoro looked like he belongs. And safety Kevin Byard baited McCarthy into a pick-six on third down that flipped the entire game.
Chicago has not been to the playoffs since 2020. The city has been waiting for a moment like this since the Bears used the first overall pick on Williams. Sunday was a down payment on the potential, not a coronation, but it was a real signal that the direction is finally correct.
The NFC North just got a lot more interesting. Detroit is still the favorite. Green Bay is still a threat. Minnesota just took an ugly loss at home in a game that will haunt Kevin O’Connell for a week. And Chicago is suddenly a team that opponents have to game-plan for.
The Bears travel to Detroit in three weeks for a game that already feels like the biggest matchup on the calendar. Ben Johnson gets a homecoming, Caleb gets a rematch against a defense that punished him as a rookie, and Chicago gets to find out whether Sunday was a fluke or the start of something real.
Bears fans will not stop talking about this one all week. They earned the right to enjoy it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
