How's that for a Week 1 victory? A 59-point offensive explosion was nothing Chicago Bears fans were used to seeing, and if you're like me, you pinched yourself Monday morning while racing to check the scores from Sunday.
Yep, it happened.
The scariest part about this win?
Head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams weren't satisfied. They knew the offense left even more points on the board.
12 penalties, a lost fumble, a couple of punts, and a failed fourth down conversion -- yeah, I guess that's understandable from their perspective.
But, just how many points did the Bears leave on the board in Carolina?
25.
Believe it or not, they did. If we're judging by what Ben Johnson said recently about scoring "every time we touch the grass," and being the highest-scoring offense of all time, then we're using that as our measuring stick.
How could we not?
Now, let's dive into exactly when and how these points vanished.
Believe it or not, the Bears could've hung 84 points on the Panthers
1st offensive drive
The game couldn't have started any worse for the Bears, so there's an obvious point to be made about leaving points on the field after just one drive. Following a Rome Odunze holding penalty that negated what was a strong D'Andre Swift run on the very first play of the game, Caleb Williams hit Luther Burden III for a 7-yard gain.
Burden was still going after the catch and, of course, he fumbled and lost it. The Panthers took over from there.
Now, had Burden not fumbled, the Bears would have had the ball around their own 30-yard line and would've had to drive another 70 yards. But, for a team that scored eight touchdowns in this game, I wouldn't put anything past them. That's seven points left out on the field.
Points left on the board: 7
The Bears would then scored touchdowns on their second, third and fourth offensive drives from there, going up 21-7 on Carolina.
However, they'd leave a few more points on the field coming up.
5th offensive drive
Early in the second quarter, the Bears were finally slowed a bit by the Panthers defense -- or was it self-inflicted? Either way, they came up short.
Ben Johnson opted to go for it on a 4th-and-1 from the Bears' own 21-yard line.
Bold? That doesn't even come close to defining a decision like this one.
It was downright psychotic.
This was fourth down and a long one yard. It sounds silly, but it was indeed about a yard and a few inches rather than just under a yard, which made the quarterback sneak call highly questionable.
The Bears were stopped, the Panthers took over, and I'll say Chicago once more left seven points on the board.
Points left on the board: 14
The Panthers would then drive down the field and tie the it up at 21 points apiece. We've officially got a game, again, at this point.
6th offensive drive
The Bears would get the ball back with all the momentum on Carolina's side and, sadly, they'd go 3-and-out for a second-straight drive. Chicago punted from their own 30-yard line.
But, here's where it gets tricky.
Points left on the board: TBD
The Panthers muffed the punt and Kaden Davis recovered for the Bears, who then took over at the Panthers' 28-yard line.
7th offensive drive
After the Bears took over, they would again stall, offensively, forcing a field goal attempt from Cairo Santos.
The field goal was good, but let's say Chicago still left four points on the board between those two drives (technically one drive with a huge, free play between).
Points left on the board: 18
Just before halftime, the Bears got the ball with five seconds to go and on their own 38-yard line. For fairness' sake, I'm not going to say they left points on the board here.
10th offensive drive
The Bears' first drive following halftime went as follows:
1st down: Caleb Williams ncomplete pass to Cole Kmet
2nd down: D'Andre Swift 3-yard run
3rd down: Caleb Williams sacked
Chicago would punt -- but this would be the last time the Bears wouldn't score a touchdown on a drive in the second half. From here, they went 4-for-4 scoring touchdowns to end the game.
And, obviously, we'll say they again left seven points on the board after that punt.
Total points left on the board: 25
There you have it.
With the way this offense was humming, you bet we should believe they could have scored another four touchdowns on the day, minus a field goal, resulting in hanging what would have been 84 points on Carolina -- also would have been a Bears franchise record, breaking the 73-point record set back in the 1940 Championship Game.
Folks, Ben Johnson is about as serious as it gets when it comes to scoring touchdowns. When he says he wants to score every time the offense hits the field, I'd hope everybody is paying attention and believes him, now.
The best part? Williams is all aboard. He wasn't satisfied after this win.
"We obviously have to be better. We've got to protect the football. We can't have the penalties that we had. We're going to go back, and like I said, look at those, be truthers about ourselves and what we can be better at and find a way to try to go 1-0 this next week," he said.
Your quarterback and head coach both agreed that this could have been a better performance.
Psychotic.
Read more: Ben Johnson's lofty goal looks terrifyingly-real after Bears' win vs. Panthers
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