Bears Film Study begins with plenty of false starts

A theme for the opening week of Bears Film Study is “It's not how you start, but how you finish.”

That applies to both Monday's loss to Minnesota, since the Bears were certainly in control of the game for three quarters; and the season in general. Remember 2022, when the Bears beat the 49ers in the rain and still finished 3-14? The Week 1 result doesn't mean much in the long run.

In some ways the Bears provided a master class in how to squelch their own momentum. At the same time, Monday's result seemed inevitable. The Bears couldn't run the ball, the offensive line didn't hold up and there were too many mistakes.

Typically when a team marches down the field for a touchdown to start a game, the way the Bears did, it's because of a smart play script. Looking back at the Bears' initial drive, it was nearly all improv.

Williams' first three completions were checkdowns to running backs. The longest gain of the drive (17 yards) happened when Williams escaped the pocket, Rome Odunze made a nice adjustment and caught a pass on the sideline. Then the touchdown was a 9-yard scramble by Williams.

A better assessment of the opening drive: Receivers weren't getting open downfield and two of the three run plays were blown up. The opening drive should have served as a warning — this offense matched up poorly against the Vikings defense.

The Vikings got on the scoreboard with help from a long pass interference penalty. The Bears had a chance to add to the lead on their third drive but committed two false starts, then decided to skip the field-goal attempt on fourth-and-3, turning it over on downs instead.

Coach Ben Johnson later said yes to a field goal, which made the score 10-3, but the Bears let the Vikings complete a 28-yard pass and drain a 59-yarder to slice the deficit to 10-6 at halftime.

After Nahshon Wright made a nice read and break on his 74-yard pick-six, the Bears should have put the game away. The defense did its part with two straight three-and-outs, but the offense continued to sputter.

One drive was ruined by an ill-fated bubble screen to Luther Burden, since tackle Darnell Wright couldn't get out to make a block in time to prevent a loss.

The holding penalty on Wright one drive later was huge, since the Bears would have had a first down on 12-yard line. The goal is to flush it and move on, but Williams missed Cole Kmet on a slant, then the Vikings used a seven-man front, plus a stunt, to confuse the Bears line and get a free rusher, which caused Williams to stumble into an intentional grounding penalty.

As quarterback J.J. McCarthy gained confidence, the Vikings had good field position on all three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, thanks to a missed field goal, long punt return, then a partially blocked punt. On Minnesota's final drive, it looked like McCarthy saw a blitz coming and checked to a screen.

Shallow depth

When the Vikings saw the Bears' second-string defensive line on the field (Dominique Robinson, Chris Williams, Andrew Billings and Tanoh Kpassagnon), they tended to run. That was the case when the fourth quarter began, just after Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard attempt. Three Jordan Mason runs picked up 30 yards with that group in the game. McCarthy tossed a couple of passes to Justin Jefferson and the Vikings had their first touchdown.

Minnesota's final scoring drive began with a Mason 19-yard run against the starters. So the Bears defensive line did need the rest.

Stopping the run

Scrambles by Caleb Williams accounted for most of the Bears' rushing output. Handoffs to D'Andre Swift averaged just over 3 yards a carry. Why couldn't the Bears run the ball?

Let's go back to a Matt Eberflus-era complaint: They need more blockers. With Colston Loveland on the field now, there's no reason to expect much blocking from a rookie tight end drafted for his receiving talent. The Bears were using Odunze as sort of an H-back, motioning him into the middle of the formation on run plays and let's face it, he's not built for that task.

Short and steady

The Vikings defense was dropping deep all night and giving up short throws. Williams took advantage a few times for 10-yard type of passing plays. He needed to do it every time.

One example, after falling behind 20-17 in the fourth quarter, the Bears picked up a first down near midfield. On first down Williams could have thrown quick and short to D.J. Moore but didn't. Meanwhile, guard Jonah Jackson should have helped center Drew Dalman pass block against Minnesota's Jonathan Allen. He didn't, Williams was flushed out of the pocket and stepped out of bounds for a sack.

Williams reverted to some of his rookie issues with indecision and reading the defense, but he also felt uncomfortable in the pocket too many times. Jackson's Bears debut was disappointing, to put it mildly, while Dalman had a couple of costly breakdowns late in the game.

Clever play alert

On the Bears' first designed run of the game, tackle Theo Benedet came on as a sixth offensive lineman. At the start of a drive in the second quarter, Benedet was back on the field, but this time the Bears ran play action. Williams tried to throw a 20-yard hitch to Moore and seemed to have it timed up well. But Vikings rookie Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, working against Jackson, batted down the pass at the line of scrimmage. Clever design, no results.