Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson met with reporters virtually Tuesday, a day after his team’s season-opening 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field.

Monday was hardly the first game Johnson envisioned when he took over as head coach in January. Quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense stalled after a great start, while the defense allowed 21 points in the fourth quarter to allow the Vikings to overcome an 11-point deficit.

The road won’t get much easier in Week 2 as Johnson makes his return to Detroit on Sunday when the Bears play the Lions. Here are three of the most interesting things Johnson said Tuesday.

On Caleb Williams’ performance

Monday night was a mixed bag for Williams in his first start under Johnson.

There were moments at the beginning and end of the game where Williams showed why the Bears drafted him No. 1 overall last year. He dropped perfectly placed balls to receivers despite Vikings defenders sometimes getting a hand in his face. Williams also displayed an ability to run away from Vikings pressure and turn it into positive yards.

But then there were the questionable moments. Williams missed wide-open receivers with errant throws or didn’t see an open receiver as he went through his progression. They were plays that Williams failed to make to put Monday’s game away.

“He came up [Tuesday], we chatted for a while,” Johnson said. “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.”

Some of that will be helping Williams find consistency after he failed to build much momentum in the middle of Monday’s game. There were moments when Williams’ errant throws came in bunches, including when the Bears went three-and-out to start the second half after Williams badly missed all three of his pass attempts.

Johnson told reporters that he’s still getting to know Williams as a player and will need to find a way to help Williams avoid those fizzles.

“That’s something that we’ll have to work through,” Johnson said. “I’ll see how I can help him through the play calls or what’s being said on the sideline to just keep him in the best spot and help him out and support him the most, and we’ll go from there.”

On coaching mistakes

One of the first things Johnson did after Monday’s game was take ownership for the loss. That continued Tuesday as he explained some of the mistakes he made in his first game as an NFL head coach.

The first came in the third quarter when Johnson decided to challenge a play where it looked like Bears linebacker Noah Sewell forced Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson to fumble. Johnson challenged the referee’s ruling that Hockenson was down before Sewell punched the ball down.

The call was confirmed, and the Bears lost a timeout because of the unsuccessful challenge.

“I thought I saw knees up, and so that’s on me,” Johnson said. “I’ve got to do a better job listening to the guys up top. I got influenced a little bit for the first time with the people around me, and I’ve just got to stay true to the process.”

Johnson also said he could’ve handled a kickoff toward the end of the game differently.

The Bears trailed 27-24 with 2:02 left in the game with one timeout. Johnson decided to have kicker Cairo Santos attempt to kick into the back of the end zone so the offense could get the ball back with roughly 50 seconds left in the game if the defense forced a three-and-out with the two-minute warning stoppage and a timeout.

Santos failed to kick it out, and the Vikings returned it and burned the two-minute warning. The Bears got the ball back with nine seconds left in the game and 80 yards to go to the end zone.

“I felt like we could kick it out of the back (of the end zone),” Johnson said. “We weren’t able to get that done. In hindsight, I should’ve kicked it out of bounds.”

On critical moments from Monday

Johnson addressed a couple of crucial moments from Monday’s game after looking at the film.

With the Bears leading 7-3 in the second quarter, Johnson decided to go for it, facing fourth and 3 from the Vikings’ 24-yard line. But the Bears first used a timeout as time was about to expire. Then Williams missed an open DJ Moore on an errant pass that would’ve picked up a first down.

“The timeout itself, I was late getting the call in, and that’s my own issue,” Johnson said. “But we knew we wanted to go for it. We felt good about that call. Caleb, we talked about it this afternoon; that’s one of the few he would like to have back.”

The other was a point late in the third quarter that shifted the momentum of the game. The Bears had driven down to the Minnesota 24, and Williams thought he had completed a 12-yard pass to running back D’Andre Swift. But right tackle Darnell Wright was called for a holding call that negated the play.

“[Caleb Williams] came up [Tuesday], 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.”

—  Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears head coach

Williams then missed an open tight end, Cole Kmet, on the next play for a big play before being called for intentional grounding. He completed a pass to Olamide Zaccheaus, but then Santos missed a 50-yard field goal attempt wide right.

Minnesota went on to score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and stole the game.

“Once one bad thing happens, if you’re not careful, then that also can be contagious as well and catch fire, and that’s what happens,” Johnson said. “Unfortunate because we were in a good position to score points, at least a field goal there, and then we ended up backing it up and made it a very difficult field goal attempt, so that was costly.”