Ben Johnson stood behind a lectern on a stage in front of reporters inside the bowels of Soldier Field late Monday night, trying to find the right words to describe what had just happened.

He stared toward the ground before lifting his head slightly as he began to talk. But the words quickly evaded him and he stopped, shook his head a few times and just let out a sigh.

It wasn’t a moment he had planned on having. The way Monday night started, it seemed like the Chicago Bears had truly entered a new era in Johnson’s first game as head coach.

Instead, the Bears reverted to their old habits in a 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and Johnson was left trying to find the words to explain how it happened.

“We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of that. We made too many there late in the game, myself included. There were a number things I could’ve done better, there were a number of things a number of guys could’ve done better.”

Monday marked what was supposed to be the start of a new age for the Bears. It was eight months after Bears general manager Ryan Poles and team ownership went after Johnson, one of the top head coaching candidates of the past few offseasons, and landed the top prize.

Everything pointed in the right direction at the start. The defense came out and frazzled Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy in his first NFL start and forced a three-and-out. Then quarterback Caleb Williams led the offense on a 10-play, 61-yard scoring drive to take an early 7-0 lead before the defense forced another three-and-out.

The Bears kept much of that momentum until the end of the third quarter. The offense had tacked on a field goal while the defense mostly limited the Vikings. The defense even added a score when cornerback Nahshon Wright returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

But things started to turn back to the old habits of last season’s 5-12 team at the end of the third quarter.

Williams and the offense had put together their most-productive drive up 17-6 since the opening drive and reached the Minnesota 24-yard line. But a holding penalty by right tackle Darnell Wright and an intentional grounding penalty by Williams moved the ball back and put the Bears at third and 30.

The Bears made up 12 yards on a completion to Olamide Zaccheaus but kicker Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal attempt wide right at the start of the fourth quarter.

“It cost us some points,” Johnson said of the penalties. “Big time.”

It also gave the Vikings life.

McCarthy calmed down and found his groove in the fourth quarter. He hit Justin Jefferson for his first career touchdown before throwing another touchdown to Aaron Jones on the team’s next drive to give Minnesota a 20-17 lead. McCarthy then put an exclamation point on the night when he ran for a touchdown to give his team a 27-17 lead with 2:53 left in the game.

The Bears, meanwhile, showed no life while their lead evaporated. The offense only picked up one first down on its first two full drives of the fourth quarter before Williams found wide receiver Rome Odunze for a touchdown to make it 27-24 Minnesota with 2:02 left in the game.

When the Bears had a chance to try to make a late comeback, they didn’t execute. Santos failed to kick the ball back into the end zone to force a touchback and to secure the stoppage of time at the two-minute warning.

Instead the Bears got the ball back with nine seconds left in the game and couldn’t move the ball 80 yards down the field.

“We just didn’t finish,” safety Kevin Byard said. “I think we played three quarters of great football. But in this league, when you’re going against playoff teams, you have to finish. I mean, we’ve seen that all over Week one, and as all three phases, we all had a hand in this loss.”

Monday felt like a departure from what the Bears preached for most of the offseason and training camp. Johnson and his coaching staff emphasized the importance of details, staying disciplined and making the easy plays. But the Bears didn’t do much of that.

Chicago was called for 12 penalties for 127 yards as they derailed both the offense and the defense. The Bears couldn’t make the plays needed to put Monday’s game away.

“We felt like we were dominating the game, like you said, and we were in control, up two scores and that that mentality is something that we preach and that didn’t happen today,” Williams said. “It’s not a play call thing. It’s not anything like that. It’s just being able to go out there and execute plays that are called and be able to execute that high level, and that’s something that we take pride in. Today that didn’t happen.”

While all three phases played a role in the loss, a lot will be looked at what happened with Williams and the offense after that opening touchdown drive. Williams looked efficient and completed all nine of his passes in the first quarter.

“We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of that. We made too many there late in the game, myself included. There were a number things I could’ve done better, there were a number of things a number of guys could’ve done better.”

—  Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears head coach

But he never looked the same the rest of the night. Williams and the offense looked disjointed and Williams’ timing with his targets was off. He finished the game with 210 passing yards and one touchdown.

Monday wasn’t the way Williams and the Bears wanted to start a new era. But Williams remained confident they could grow from Monday’s performance, especially his connection with Johnson.

“I think it’s a growing process, that it’s going to keep growing from here,” Williams said. “This is the start, but definitely not the end. So we’ll keep growing. We’ll keep being passionate about this offense, him and I, and passionate about this team.”