1st-and-10: The Ben Johnson Effect takes a hit

It was a bad day for Ben Johnson. It was a worse day for The Ben Johnson Effect.

In his first season as the Bears' head coach, Johnson defied the stigma at Halas Hall that seemed to turn every post-Lovie-era coach into the worst version of himself. Johnson not only was good at what he did best, but made everyone around him better. He made Ryan Poles a better general manager. He made Caleb Williams a better quarterback. With Johnson's touch, seventh-round running back Kyle Monangai played like a second-round pick, and the Bears had an uncanny knack for fantastic finishes. Johnson did what you have to do to succeed with the Bears — he changed Halas Hall before it changed him.

But, outside of Williams' late hamstring injury, the Bears' 9-3 loss to the Vikings on Sunday at Soldier Field was alarming, not just because the Bears lost a game they were expected to win, but because Ben Johnson suddenly was the worst version of himself.

The Bears have lost before under Johnson, but this time they looked like a poorly coached team. All the earmarks of the Johnson era evaporated. The Bears played without focus — key drops on both sides of the ball. They were undisciplined, with eight penalties — including delay-of-game and illegal shift infractions. Williams ill-advisedly threw back toward the middle and was intercepted. When he threw it away he was penalized for intentional grounding. Johnson was out-schemed by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores — just three points and 297 yards after averaging 26.3 points and 365.3 yards in six previous matchups with Flores. (Even in two games with the Bears last year, Johnson's offense averaged 18 points and 318.5 yards against. Flores' defense — and one of the games was Week 1, Johnson's first game. So Sunday's performance was a steep drop from Johnson's usual productivity against Flores.)

Under Johnson, the rain that was sure to effect the Bears passing game, should have heightened their focus to lean on their strong running game. Instead, the Bears blocked poorly, exposing weaknesses at left tackle and center that usually are covered up in a Johnson offense. And with a chance to win even after all that had happened and losing Williams, he had tight end Colston Loveland blocking Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner.

Bears fans are used to bloom-off-the-rose moments. In 2000, Gary Crowton's offense was shut out in Week 2 against the Buccaneers (41-0!). It was the first time Crowton had been shut out as an offensive coach in his career, and the beginning of the end. By Thanksgiving he was off to BYU as head coach and replaced as offensive coordinator by John Shoop — a future Ben Johnson mentor.

In 2013, Marc Trestman had Robbie Gould try a 47-yard field goal on second-and-seven in overtime against the Vikings at the Metrodome, because he didn't want to risk a fumble to get Gould closer. Gould, who had not arrived at the Metrodome until just before game time because his wife had given birth to their first child in Chicago earlier that morning, missed the field goal and the Bears lost. They finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs before imploding in 2014.

And in 2019, Matt Nagy had a series of moments early in the season that portended his demise: the 10-3 loss to the Packers in the opener; a poor performance in a loss to the Raiders in London; running seven times in a loss to the Saints; and having rookie Eddy Pineiro attempt a 41-yard field goal on second down on the final play of the game in a 7-16 loss to the Chargers at Soldier Field because he did not want to risk a fumble that might have gotten Pineiro closer.

The red flag was similar to Trestman's against the Vikings: An offensive-minded coach who thrived on aggressiveness, inventiveness and putting the pressure on the defense suddenly was worried about the worst-case scenario. The Bears made the playoffs in 2020 under Nagy, but were already on a steady descent.

The Bears' loss to the Vikings on Sunday doesn't reach the level of those red flags, but it does raise an eyebrow when so many of Johnson's strengths turned to weaknesses at the same time. It seems like the rain was a bigger issue than Johnson ever imagined and everything snowballed — pardon the expression — from there.

We'll see about that. Monday Night Football against the Eagles will put a bigger spotlight than normal on Johnson — a huge test for a coach who lost a little bit of luster — and likely his starting quarterback. With or without Caleb Williams, if Ben Johnson is as good as advertised he'll be back on his game, the Bears will be back on theirs.

2. Just to show you how bad Johnson's luck was running Sunday, even with everything that went wrong against the Vikings, the Bears still likely would have won if not for the Williams injury. That led to the Loveland-Turner matchup, which apparently led to Tyson Bagent's concussion when he was slammed t the turn on a game-ending sack. Yikes!

So now veteran Case Keenum could start against the Eagles. Keenum hasn't started since Week 16 of the 2023 season — playing for the Texans against the Browns in place of injured starter C.J. Stroud (concussion). Keenum completed 11-of-17 passes for 62 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions before being replaced by third-stringer Davis Mills in a 36-22 loss.

The last time Keenum faced a Vic Fangio defense, he beat Fangio's Broncos 17-14 with the Browns in 2021. Starting for injured Baker Mayfield, Keenum completed 21-of-33 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, with one sack.

3. Keenum or Bagent starting would present a new challenge for Johnson — it would be the first time in 100 games he's coached as a coordinator or head coach without a starting quarterback drafted No. 1 overall. (Jared Goff started all 55 games with the Lions from 2022-24; Williams has started all 38 with the Bears).

For the record, Williams tied Bill Wade for second place on the Bears' all-time list for consecutive quarterback starts with 38 on Sunday. He's five behind Bob Avellini's all-time record of 43 set in 1976-78.

4. We saw what Bagent can do — and his limitations — in a standard NFL offense under Luke Getsy in a four-game stint in place of Justin Fields as a rookie in 2023. He went 2-2 with a 73.0 passer rating — 84-of-129 completions for 776 yards (6.0 yards per attempt), three touchdowns and five interceptions.

But he's three years older and in a better offense that — theoretically — can minimize the limitations of his arm strength. But, if Bagent starts against the Eagles on Monday night, that offense will have to be a lot better — and provide Bagent with more immediate options — than it was against the Vikings.

Bagent's shaky impromptu performance against the Vikings — and the Bears' poor offensive performance in general — seem to have muted the anticipation of him starting in a Johnson offense. It's a great opportunity for the pro-Bagent faction that — if Kyle Shanahan can make an NFL quarterback out of Brock Purdy, Johnson can make one out of Tyson Bagent.

5. As a proponent of The Ben Johnson Effect, my pick to click off preseason performance was rookie tight end Sam Roush from Stanford. Roush, more noted for his blocking than receiving at Stanford, was hand-picked by Johnson at No. 69 overall in the third round, when most mock drafts had him going in the fourth round.

It was just one game, but Roush couldn't have been much worse on Sunday — looking more like Velus Jones as a third-round pick, or Adam Shaheen as a tight end. Roush was called for an illegal shift that nullified a 14-yard pass to Loveland in the second quarter. He dropped what could have been a touchdown pass — in traffic, but still a ball he should catch — that would have given the Bears the lead. And he missed a block on Isaiah Rodgers that allowed Rodgers to block a Cairo Santos 23-yard field goal that have tied the game 6-6 with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter.

6. Roush dropping a pass downfield and Loveland getting overwhelmed for a sack in the same game is the kind of thing that happened to other Bears coaches, not Ben Johnson.

Still, it was only one game. At this point of the 2025 season, Loveland had two receptions for 12 yards. He finished with 58 receptions for 713 yards and six touchdowns. Kyle Monangai had seven carries for 28 yards and no touchdowns. He finished with 169 carries for 763 yards and five touchdowns, with games of 176 and 130 yards. And Ozzy Trapilo was backing up Darnell Wright at right tackle. He started the seven of the final nine games before suffering an injury in the playoffs. Roush picked a bad time to get on Johnson's bad side, but history shows he'll be better for it.

7. Cornerback Kyler Gordon's absence remains a mystery, but what about Jaylon Johnson? He hasn't been the same since he suffered his own mysterious groin injury working out on his own in the 2025 offseason. He called it a "freak accident" while working with other cornerbacks against receivers on releases off the line of scrimmage.

Johnson returned from that injury to play in Week 2 against the Lions last season, but aggravated the injury (the Bears called it a new injury) and missed the next nine games. He was not at his All-Pro level in the final eight games, even with a nifty interception in a 31-3 rout of the Browns.

Johnson is off to a slow start in 2026, by the eye test or any grading metric and just doesn't look like the same player he was. And it doesn't look like he'll get much better without more rest, if that.

8. The response to Caleb Williams going down like he was shot and leaving Soldier Field on a cart — with only a Grade 1 hamstring sprain – is a little silly. Williams' soft side — painting his nails, crying in his mother's arms after losing to Washington and stuff like that — was only an issue because critics could at least claim he wasn't "manly" enough to succeed in the NFL.

Now we know that he very obviously can succeed in the NFL. Though far from a finished product, he's proven that. So how ever he responds to an injury when it happens doesn't matter. He could be back as soon as Monday night, but more likely within two or three weeks — that's pretty good for any kind of hamstring issue. Patrick Mahomes does something like that and he's a hero. Williams, especially if he misses fewer than three games, should get the same respect.

9. Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Patriots safety Kevin Byard had four tackles and a near interception of Aaron Rodgers in a 20-3 victory over the Steelers. Byard's former cohort at safety with the Bears, Jaquan Brisker, had six tackles for the Steelers.

10. Bear-ometer: 10-7 — vs. Eagles (L); vs. Jets (W); at Packers (L); at Falcons (W); vs. Patriots (W); at Seahawks (L); vs. Buccaneers (W); vs. Saints (W); at Lions (L); vs. Jaguars (L); at Dolphins (W); at Bills (L); vs. Packers (W); vs. Lions (W); at Vikings (W).

---