The start of the Ben Johnson era was supposed to usher in a new age for the Chicago Bears offense and quarterback Caleb Williams. It mostly looked the same in the Bears’ 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.

Williams and the offense seemed like they turned the corner when they marched down the field and scored on their opening possession Monday. But instead, Williams’ old habits came back for the rest of the game as he missed receivers with errant passes or didn’t see them as he went through his progressions.

Williams threw for 210 yards and one touchdown, completing 21 of his 35 passes. But let’s look deeper into the numbers.

In the first Bear Down, Nerd Up of the season, we’ll evaluate how Williams did in his first game with Johnson as his playcaller.

Staying close to home

One of the biggest takeaways from Williams’ rookie season last year was his inability to complete deep passes. The Bears didn’t ask him to do it much at the start of last season. But Williams earned more chances to throw the deep ball as the season moved on and struggled at times.

Williams didn’t take too many deep shots Monday night.

He attempted four passes for more than 20 yards according to NFL Next Gen Stats, completing two of them. Williams’ longest pass came in the second quarter when he completed a nice 31-yard pass in space to wide receiver DJ Moore.

The majority of Williams’ completions and attempts came close to the pocket. He completed all six of his attempts down the middle from the line of scrimmage to 11 yards. His lone touchdown pass Monday was a 1-yard pass into the back of the end zone late in the game to a wide-open Rome Odunze.

The difference in Williams’ average air yards per completion wasn’t very different compared to his average intended air yards, which reinforces the point that Williams wasn’t taking a lot of deep shots. Williams’ average air yards per completion was 6.2 yards compared to 7.6 yards of intended passes, a difference of minus 1.4 yards.

He ranked in the lower third in that category of quarterbacks who played in Week 1, with Tennessee Titans rookie Cam Ward leading the league with a minus 7.1.

Missed chances

A lot of different factors played into the offense stalling after its opening touchdown. But a big part of it was Williams’ incompletions, which were caused by the fact that he didn’t see a wide-open target, or he just threw an off pass.

Williams missed Moore a few times. The first came on the team’s second drive when Williams chose to complete a shorter pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland down the middle instead of a deep open shot to Moore. Williams also misfired on a pass to Moore on fourth down in the second quarter and missed him again wide open late in the game.

The stats back that theory up. Williams completed 60% of his passes, and Next Gen Stats listed his expected completion rate at 73.2%. He tied with Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young for the highest difference at minus 13.2.

“It’s frustrating because we did everything perfect all the way up to that, then just missed,” Williams said of the missed throws. “That happens. Just being able to come back from that and keep punching, keep fighting. But those are big moments in the game.”

A promising start

Despite the loss, it wasn’t all bad for Williams and the offense. Williams looked efficient in their opening drive, going 61 yards and 10 plays down the field to take an early 7-0 lead.

He completed all six of his pass attempts for 51 yards, including a 17-yard dart down the sideline to Odunze on third and 5. That pass was the longest of the drive, and five of Williams’ completions on the drive were for five or more yards.

Williams continued that success after the touchdown. He completed his first 10 pass attempts, the most by a Bears quarterback to start the season since 1978.

Williams runs away from negative yards

While much was made about Williams’ performance in the air, he also had a strong showing on the ground.

Williams led the Bears with 58 rushing yards on six carries, all of which were off scrambles. It was the second-highest rushing yardage for Williams’ career – he ran for 70 yards against the Green Bay Packers in Week 11 last season – and it included Williams’ first career rushing touchdown in the first quarter.

He told reporters after the game that scrambling away from pressure and negative plays was one way for the offense to combat Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ aggressive playcalling.

“It’s important,” Williams said. “It’s important to us, the offense, our team. Whatever’s important to us is what I’m going to do.”

Nahshon Wright runs to the top

Cornerback Nahshon Wright made the most of his first start with the Bears. Wright started in place of Jaylon Johnson, who was inactive Monday after missing all of training camp with a groin and calf injury.

After allowing the Vikings to move the ball down the field earlier in the game, on a pass interference penalty that was called against him. Wright made up for it when he intercepted Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown.

The moment was the first time Wright returned an interception for a touchdown in his five-year career and was just his second career interception. Next Gen Stats also listed that Wright returned the interception at 21.66 miles per hour, the fastest ball carrier speed in the NFL for Week 1.

Historic undisciplined play

The Bears’ 12 penalties for 127 yards not only derailed drives for both the offense and defense Monday night. It happened at a historic level.

Chicago’s 127 penalty yards were the most the team gave up since it allowed 129 at the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 4, 2018. The 12 penalties were also the most the Bears have committed since they were called for 12 at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 8, 2021.

Four of those penalties were false starts by the offense as pre-snap penalties continued over from training camp. Chicago was also called for two pass interference penalties.

Limiting Justin Jefferson

Despite the Bears’ defensive injuries, the unit limited one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson caught four passes for 44 yards, and McCarthy targeted him seven times.

The 44 yards were the fewest he’s caught in a game since Week 12 last season in a game against the Bears at Soldier Field. Monday was the 14th time in Jefferson’s career that he finished a game with 44 receiving yards or fewer in the 78 career games he’s played.

There were multiple factors for Jefferson’s lower production. He dealt with injuries during most of training camp and also had a quarterback making his first career start in McCarthy.