Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears Preview: Caleb Williams’ growth and offensive line concerns highlight biggest questions
Get to know the Chicago Bears ahead of Monday night’s game.
The Minnesota Vikings are set to take on the Chicago Bears to kick off the 2025 season on Monday Night Football.
We’ve spent a long time breaking down the Vikings over the course of the offseason from bold predictions to how individual players will impact the team. One thing we haven’t done as much of is breaking down the Vikings’ opponents.
Going into each game, we will speak to the beat writer for each opponent to get a sense of where they are at going into the game. Ahead of week one, we spoke to Bears beat writer Kole Noble.
Caleb Williams’ biggest weaknesses are the basics of what Ben Johnson’s offense is based on: timing, anticipation, and rhythm. How will the two opposites mesh in Week 1 and beyond?
It all starts before the snap. Caleb Williams and the Bears’ offense have struggled with the presnap operation all summer long and it continued early in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs. Avoiding any potential negative plays before the snap is priority one.
After the snap, head coach Ben Johnson is looking to see his quarterback get the ball out of his hands quickly and into the hands of his playmakers. For Williams, the importance needs to be trusting the scheme and checking all his reads before trying to bail out of the pocket.
Williams is a talented player on the move but he needs to learn to play within the structure of the offense first. Johnson will still look to use Williams’ talents as a backyard player by mixing in bootlegs and easy play-action completions once the run game has been established.
As for anticipation, Johnson has been preaching the details to his set of pass catchers so that they can be exactly where they’re supposed to be on any given play. Then, it’s on Williams to read the defense and hit those spots. It’s a complex scheme, but one that should be QB-friendly as long as everyone does their individual job.
Ryan Poles did a ton of work to fix the interior of the offensive line, but the tackles are still an issue on the outside looking in. How big of a problem are they?
Left tackle remains the biggest concern on the offensive side of the ball. It was a last minute decision to name Braxton Jones as the starter at the position, and I believe it was the best decision given the circumstances. Jones is an experienced starter and has familiarity in the role, but comes with his own consistency issues in pass protection.
Yet, against the Vikings, Jones has historically held up well against the Brian Flores-led defensive front. In his two games starting against Minnesota since 2023, Jones allowed just one sack and four total pressures on 102 pass blocking snaps. We’ll see if that can continue because Jones will have a short leash when it comes to holding down the starting spot on a week-to-week basis.
On the right side, the coaching staff has voiced similar consistency issues with Darnell Wright, but not quite to the extent it is with Jones. Expect to see both tackle positions get some help in some form or fashion. Tight ends Cole Kmet or Colston Loveland can provide some chips at the line of scrimmage with the running backs aiding in blitz pickup as well.
With Matt Eberflus gone, what kind of changes are Minnesota in for with Dennis Allen calling the defense?
Dennis Allen and Brian Flores are very similar when it comes to running an unconventional defensive scheme. Both coordinators love using exotic blitz packages and multiple fronts utilizing a stable of different style pass rushers. That similarity could actually benefit both the Bears and Vikings in this game because it’s a style of defense each offense has been facing all summer.
Focusing on Allen, another defining trait of his scheme is how aggressive he can be with his play-calling, something Bears fans got a taste of in the preseason. Few coordinators are willing to call an all-out blitz on fourth-and-long like he did against the Miami Dolphins late in the fourth-quarter. And his defensive backs are going to be annoyingly hands-on at the line of scrimmage.
Going up against a young, and frankly inexperienced, quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, Allen will be looking to bring the fight to the Vikings’ offense in more ways than one to see if he can force some mistakes.
What is your score prediction for the game?
When the 2025 schedule was released, I had the Bears winning this game 13-10 on a walk-off field goal in a very low-scoring affair. In the months since the schedule release, I still see this being a defensive chess match but can see the offenses scoring a bit more. I’ll go with a 17-14 final score with Cairo Santos starting off the season the way he ended it in 2024 for the Bears.
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