After watching tape of Sunday's season-opening 59-37 win over the Panthers, Bears coach Ben Johnson on Monday spoke to reporters virtually about five things that stood out to him:
(1) Johnson lauded the Bears for battling through the heat in Charlotte, where it was a humid 89 degrees at kickoff and much hotter on the field.
Despite the oppressive conditions, the offense scored eight touchdowns and the defense made key stops in the second half, enabling the Bears to record their second-most lopsided win since Johnson became coach last year.
"I was really proud of the team, the way they came out and fought for 60 minutes on the road like that," Johnson said. "Tough conditions, weather, of course, played a factor on both sides. Despite a long, tough training camp, it's hard not to allow heat like that to fatigue you to a degree, so we had a fight through that. I thought it was really good for us. We just wanted to find a way to get to the plane being 1-0, and we found a way to get that done.
"Week 1 in the NFL is always interesting across the league. You don't know quite what's going to happen in your game, much less in any other game, and so it's really encouraging to see our crew be able to find a way regardless of the circumstances there."
Johnson was especially impressed with how the Bears finished, outscoring the Panthers 28-6 over the game's final 18:05 after Carolina had tied the score 31-31. Last season, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young led six game-winning drives, tied with the Bears' Caleb Williams for the second most in the NFL behind the Broncos' Bo Nix's seven.
"I thought [the Bears] did a really good job in the fourth quarter pressing on the gas," Johnson said. "It's a credit to Carolina more than anything. We went into the game with a lot of respect for how well they could play in the fourth quarter. They had a number of games a year ago where the quarterback and the offense found a way to come back and win from behind, and so that was just something that was on our mind going into the game. We knew we couldn't let off the gas."
(2) Johnson felt that the Bears' potent running game was a group effort.
The offense delivered a historic performance, especially on the ground, rushing for 291 yards and six touchdowns. The 291 yards were the most by the Bears since Sept. 9, 1984, when they ran for 302 yards in a 27-0 win over the Broncos, and the six TDs tied for the most in franchise history.
D'Andre Swift (124 yards) and Kyle Monangai (100) both rushed for at least 100 yards for the second time in the last seven games dating back to last season's Black Friday win in Philadelphia — a feat that previously had not been accomplished by two Bears rushers since Hall of Famer Walter Payton and Matt Suhey in 1985.
"It starts with the O-line, always," Johnson said. "But the tight ends and those receivers were a big part of the explosive runs as well. It's a credit to all those guys. Swift ran really hard. The intent of the play, he understood. Same thing with Kyle. It was good to see him break out a 60-yarder and run really hard, just like that. But I think it's a really good start. It's further along right now than where we started a year ago in terms of that running game. I knew it was going to take a minute. To see our starting point this year and what we can build off of, it's really encouraging."
Williams also did damage on the ground, rushing for 65 yards — the second most in a game in his career — highlighted by TD scrambles of nine and 29 yards.
"In terms of Caleb, hopefully we can bring this dynamic each and every week," Johnson said. "He and I, as we went over the tape, there's a couple times when we don't have the best call on for the defensive coverage, and this is the marriage between the play you call and our quarterback, is, he's able to make this thing right for us. I believe it's the first rushing touchdown that he had — really, both rushing touchdowns that he had — they did a pretty good job covering everybody, and he was able to find a little space and he took off. He was decisive. He was really fast. I don't know if he gets enough credit for how fast he truly is.
"And so it's one of those things that we may or may not lean into by the play call. It might just be organically that it happens like that. We trust him to know when those times are. But we think it's really, really dangerous for our offense."
(3) Johnson felt that Williams made quick, smart decisions in the passing game.
The Bears quarterback connected on 72% of his throws (21 of 29) for 269 yards, two TDs and a 124.1 passer rating, with a handful of completions coming on checkdowns.
"Caleb and I were talking about it the night before the game, just his conversation with Drew Brees, who ended up calling our game, just the difference between 60% and 70%," Johnson said. "[Brees] said the difference is three completions a game. And … that might've stuck with our guy a little bit, which was cool to see.
"A couple checkdowns to the backs were good plays for us. There's a couple of times where the primary's not there, and you can see him reset to the middle of the field where No. 2 was, and he ended up dotting that for 5-yard gains a couple times. I thought he had some really nice throwaways when the plays weren't there. He was smart with the football. And then I think what also showed up was just on the scramble. The scramble in general, we had a lot more production than maybe we would have had in the past. And so that was encouraging to see as well."
(4) Johnson has enjoyed having an up-close view of Swift's emergence as a talented all-purpose running back.
Swift spent his first three NFL seasons with the Lions when Johnson was an offensive assistant (2020-21) and offensive coordinator (2022). Reunited last year with the Bears, Swift set career rushing highs with 1,087 yards and nine TDs. Last Friday, his efforts were rewarded with a three-year contract extension.
"He's always been a super explosive athlete," Johnson said. "I think what's happened over the course of his career is just this understanding of what's going on in the running game, where he needs to hit it. People, I think, sometimes put him in a box as more of a scatback type, but he's really an all-purpose back as far as I'm concerned. He's a lot stronger than what people think. He's willing to go for those hard yards and run in between the tackles. He can put his shoulder down, drive the pile, and yet he still has the speed to where he can be an explosive player on the perimeter as well. So, I've always seen him as more of an all-purpose back than putting any certain type of label on him.
"I'm just really proud of how he's grown. He's earned that contract. He wants to be here. The way he works and he goes about his business is exactly what we want to be about. His teammates respect him, and he's a huge part of what we do here on offense."
(5) Johnson never considered discontinuing his "Good, Better, Best," postgame locker room celebrations that went viral last season.
The Bears coach uttered the mantra again following Sunday's win — much to the delight of his enthusiastic players and assistant coaches.
"Well, it was kind of the vision when I took it over a year and a half ago," Johnson said. "I kind of had that in mind, that being kind of our thing. And so, no, nothing really discouraged me from doing that. I think it's a great message. I think it's a good rallying cry for us, and I think the guys enjoy it."
