Will the Bears be able to fix sloppy offense before Week 1?

Hours later, coach Ben Johnson remained aggravated, still sorting through how to deal with his discouragement over a frustrating first quarter. Sure, Johnson’s Bears had just rallied for a 29-27 preseason victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night, a win sealed when backup quarterback Tyson Bagent hit Jahdae Walker for a 6-yard touchdown pass with three seconds remaining. And make no mistake: That clutch final play set off a mini-explosion of revelry on the Bears’ sideline at Arrowhead Stadium.

But Johnson still couldn’t shake his aggravation over the team’s early disarray, particularly on offense.

That scoreless first quarter. That disorganized first drive. That inexcusable first play.

For a coach who has made it known since his first day on the job that, for the Bears, good enough can no longer qualify as good enough, the clean-up process of all that went wrong early Friday night required heightened attention. In his postgame news conference, just minutes after witnessing his backup quarterback produce a final-snap triumph, Johnson’s manner was much more “Clean this mess up!” than “Let’s party!”

“Not the start we wanted,” Johnson told reporters.

Indeed, it wasn’t.

That scoreless first quarter from the Bears’ first-unit offense? Just too much disorder and too little energy. It felt like they were on an express lane toward mediocrity.

That disorganized first drive? It was derailed in part by tight end Colston Loveland’s false start, the type of pre-snap operational miscue that has been far too prevalent from the entire offense throughout training camp.

That inexcusable first play? A jet sweep to receiver Olamide Zaccheaus malfunctioned before it ever got rolling, with off-kilter timing between Zaccheaus’ motion and center Drew Dalman’s snap resulting in a bungled exchange between quarterback Caleb Williams and Zaccheaus. A clumsy fumble put the Bears 4 yards behind the chains.

That can’t happen, the head coach said.

“Yeah,” Johnson said. “Bad ballhandling. We had walked through all the openers to start the game. And we didn’t execute (that) very well.”

Said Williams: “It’s a simple, easy play. And mistiming a snap with a fast receiver flying across with a fast motion, when you have something like that early in the game, it’s not what we want.”

The Bears’ second drive Friday night wasn’t much better, particularly after Williams held the ball on one play for six seconds after the snap and took a sack that turned a second-and-3 opportunity into a third-and-8, leading to an eventual punt.

To be fair, that was the only sack Williams took on 26 preseason dropbacks this month. But the nature of that negative play felt so 2024. And after the game, the second-year quarterback confessed his frustration, citing his lapse in situational awareness in that moment.

So, yeah. Before the Bears knew what hit them, they trailed the powerhouse Chiefs 17-0 and had been outgained 197-29. The defense’s inability to slow Patrick Mahomes and company even a little was equally concerning and will deserve its own correction session at Halas Hall as the regular season closes in.

Johnson hadn’t signed up for any of that.

“We said this is our first time on the road, and we were going to find out what kind of road team we were going to be,” he said. “And if the first quarter was any indication, it’s not good enough. So we have to get better in a hurry.”

Tick. Tock.

Two weeks from now, on the “Monday Night Football” stage against the Minnesota Vikings, a sloppy start like that may get the Bears beat — and subsequently lit up in the court of public opinion. Johnson knows that. He won’t tolerate lapses in focus or general ineptitude, and he’s determined to help his players reach a heightened level of urgency so they can execute more consistently.

That’s especially true for Williams, the tone-setting engine of the offense who must take his game to a new level this season. That starts with the mastery of his pre-snap responsibilities but also includes making better decisions, improving his accuracy and taking what a given play is giving him.

In the lead-up to a 38-0 preseason trouncing of the Buffalo Bills earlier this month, Williams and the offense seemed to be stacking positive days in that regard. Before heading to Kansas City, there seemed to be additional evidence of momentum.

Then Friday’s first quarter happened. And, well, the coach was flummoxed.

“It is disappointing to me, offensively,” Johnson said. “Because I thought we had kind of worked our way out of that.”

To Williams’ credit, he finished Friday’s first half with a strong two-minute drill, a 78-yard touchdown drive that offered several positives. Williams’ final two completions of that drive went to receiver Rome Odunze, the first a 37-yard strike on a wide-open corner route, and the second a 3-yard scoring dart. Both passes came immediately after Odunze failed to win a 50-50 ball against Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson. Williams’ willingness to go right back to Odunze made sense and paid dividends.

Additionally, his 25-yard completion on the second play of that series offered more run-after-catch production from Zaccheaus, who has spent the past month emerging as one of the quarterback’s most trusted targets.

“(I was) saying to the guys, ‘Here we go,’” Williams said. “Just getting to that feeling — if we’re ever down in a game, if we ever start slow, if we ever have these moments, it’s being able to have the self-control and discipline for those moments to go out there and score in the two-minute.”

A significant part of the Bears’ evaluation of Williams this season will center on his ability to respond to rough plays, shaky series and frustrating moments. There’s curiosity about the quarterback’s focus on, as general manager Ryan Poles called it, “conquering his own emotions.”

“When bad things happen,” Poles told The Athletic last week, “it’s showing the ability to recover again.”

To that end, the groove Williams found on his final preseason drive — albeit against Chiefs reserves — felt reassuring. Equally encouraging was Williams’ ability to turn a fake toss quarterback keeper into the Bears’ longest run of the night, an 18-yard sprint that catalyzed a second-quarter field goal drive.

As the weeks have turned into months this spring and summer, Williams believes he has grown in his ability to see things faster, to recognize pressures, to make checks and find answers to many of the problems that arise. That’s a bit of mental cushion after Friday night’s early struggles.

“It’s frustrating,” Williams said. “But you also understand it’s preseason.”

That wasn’t an attempt to minimize Friday’s miscues or shrug past all the disorder that had Johnson annoyed. But for Williams, with the Bears now crossing the bridge into the regular season, there’s faith that structured practices and game planning geared toward that week’s opponent will help smooth everything out.

Whatever the case, that bright-lights, big-stage opener against the Vikings on Sept. 8 is now the next show on the marquee. And Williams and the Bears must meet that moment with greater readiness than they showed in Kansas City.

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