Despite some optimism about the future, not many Chicago Bears fans walked out of Soldier Field feeling particularly good about the 27-24 heartbreaking loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.
The biggest issue for the Bears was the number of penalties called on them, whether it was on offense or defense. Chicago finished with a staggering 12 penalties for 127 in the loss.
That was a point of emphasis in Bears head coach Ben Johnson's press conference after the game, with the team needing to eliminate those types of mental errors.
"We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game," Johnson said via ESPN's Courtney Cronin. "Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that. We made too many there late in the game, myself included.
"When you look down at the stat sheet and you see 12 penalties, that's got to get cleaned up in a hurry, yet we've been saying that all training camp, as well. We'll find a way to get that done. It's going to be a collective effort. No one's pointing fingers."
Chicago's most talked about training camp flaw continues through the regular season
One of the lingering concerns that never seemed to be resolved throughout training camp was the pre-snap issues. Too many times, it was the offense's inability to line up correctly or jumping off the line too early. That was seen in the game against the Vikings.
During the game, the offense was penalized six times for 40 yards. They were broken down into four pre-snap false starts, one holding, and Caleb Williams' intentional grounding.
Guard Jonah Jackson was the worst offender of the false starts, as he had two of them, while right tackle Darnell Wright had a false start and a holding call. Wide receiver DJ Moore had the other false start penalty off of him, being in motion and starting to run off the line of scrimmage too early.
This can be chalked up to the offense still learning Johnson's system and getting used to each other. The offensive line has been retooled with three new starters, so there are some adjustments needed.
Bears fans would argue this team has had over a month to prepare and get this offense right. It's never as simple as that when dealing with a complex new system.
Read more: Caleb Williams admits what Bears fans already knew about Week 1 meltdown
Unfortunately, the Bears have a short week to repair the issues before playing another NFC North foe, the Detroit Lions.