A lot went wrong in the Chicago Bears’ 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field on Monday Night Football.
Caleb Williams missed throws, the Bears committed 12 penalties for 127 yards, and when the team had several opportunities to put the game away, Chicago instead gave Minnesota life by squandering drives.
There was also another major issue with the Bears: the rushing attack.
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Chicago finished with 119 total rushing yards. Williams led the team with 58, and D’Andre Swift had a game-high 17 carries for 53 yards (3.1 average). After the Monday night loss, Bears head coach Ben Johnson was asked about his evaluation of the entire offense.
“Just inconsistent,” Johnson said. “We felt like we were going to get some completions to get us going there, get the ball in our play-makers' hands. Those were a little bit harder to come by. I thought Caleb did a good job working the pocket there early in the game. The running game, I didn't feel the rhythm as I was calling it. There was some good, some not quite so good. Didn't seem like we were all on the same page the whole time. Like I said, that's a reflection of me as much as anything else. We said as long as we were communicating, we'd be on the same page, we'd be fine this game.”
Johnson said what Bears fans witnessed about the run game. It lacked rhythm. Swift sprinkled in some decent runs, including a 13-yarder that was his longest of the day, but those effective carries were sparse.
Swift was asked about his rushing performance after the game.
“Uh, it was okay,” Swift told Marquee Sports Network. “I’ll go over the tape to see where I can get better at, see where we can get better as an offense, but we didn’t come away with the win, so.”
The offensive line failed to create consistent rushing lanes, which impacted Swift’s ability to run between the tackles. Since the running game never established itself, that put more pressure on Williams and the passing attack to perform. And after Williams started the night completing 10 of 10 passes, the accuracy began to dip.
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Swift and the rushing attack must find a way to impact games moving forward. If that doesn’t happen, Johnson’s offense will become one-dimensional and far less effective than what was utilized in Detroit.