After watching tape of Monday night's 27-24 loss to the Vikings, Bears coach Ben Johnson spoke to reporters via Zoom Tuesday about five things that stood out to him.
(1) Johnson felt that the Bears put "some good football on tape," but there was "too much inconsistent stuff that popped up that we'll address, we'll clean up."
"Effort wasn't an issue," Johnson said. "Those guys did a good job playing hard and competing the whole night. But the execution has to improve, particularly there in the fourth quarter."
(2) Johnson lauded quarterback Caleb Williams for his scrambling ability.
The second-year pro led the Bears in rushing with 58 yards on six carries—all of which were scrambles and not designed runs. His first rush resulted in a 9-yard touchdown on third-and-6. He followed with gains of 12, 9, 2, 13 and 13 yards.
"He has the elusiveness in the pocket and then I think he has underestimated ability to really turn on the jets," Johnson said. "We have a number of athletic players on our defense, and I saw it all throughout training camp, him being able to break the pocket and [elude] some of our athletic D-ends or linebackers. He was able to extend the play that way. That came to life last night. And we certainly needed those rushing yards. We were drying up a little bit there in the running game and he was able to help complement that and move the sticks."
(3) Asked how he'd assess Williams going through his progressions and his throwing accuracy, Johnson said: "It was up and down. We had mixed results."
Williams completed his first 10 passes and finished the game 21 of 35 for 210 yards with one TD, no turnovers and an 86.6 passer rating.
"There were some things that he did that were top notch and I would put him up there with some of the best in the NFL," Johnson said. "He had a couple throws with guys in his face that he delivered on target that were very tough. I thought he did a good job evading when he felt pressure and yet there were still some that we would like to have back. There were probably three or four of them that we counted on tape that, at a minimum, that we would want back. He came up today. We chatted for a while. He's very self-reflective on it and very critical of himself. It's a starting point for us and we're looking to get better next week."
(4) Johnson was thrilled to see cornerback Nahshon Wright intercept a J.J. McCarthy pass and return it 74 yards for his first NFL touchdown.
Wright signed with the Bears in April after spending his first four NFL seasons with the Cowboys (2021-23) and Vikings (2024).
"He's worked so hard since he came into the building," Johnson said. "He's got a strong relationship with our DBs coach Al Harris from their time in Dallas, and that familiarity has certainly helped him pick up this system quickly. And to see him have that type of production, it was pretty good, particularly after he gave up the [pass interference penalty] earlier in the game, and so he's got the resilience to bounce back and not only compete but make a big play for us like that."
(5) Eliminating false start penalties will remain a "huge point of emphasis."
After drawing four false start flags against the Vikings, Johnson was asked how the Bears would solve the problem heading into Week 2's game in Detroit.
"I guess silent cadence, right? Maybe that'll help here this week," he said. "We can go on that and we're going to need to do that and we're going to need to be really good at that because this is going to be a loud environment that we're going to. It's going to be a playoff-like atmosphere. Ford Field has been something else over the last couple of years, so we're going to have to be at our best.
"Certainly, we haven't been good enough over the course of camp. We haven't been good Week 1, and so this is going to be a huge point of emphasis for us going forward."
