Just when it looked like Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears were going to pick up a dominant Week 1 win against J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings during a Week 1 primeitme matchup, but a nightmare of a fourth quarter helped Chicago fall in defeat by a 27-24 scoreline.
Between Williams' second-half collapse and JJ McCarthy going from Caleb Hanie to Tom Brady once the fourth quarter came around, things are looking glum. Williams' 268 total yards and two touchdowns were overshadowed by some of his big misses down the stretch.
While Bears fans want to burn everything down after choking against a division rival, there should be different levels of alarm. Some parts of this team need to work out the kinks, while others are such big problems that immediate action is required.
Chicago Bears panic meter after brutal Week 1 loss to Vikings
Caleb Williams: 5/10
Williams is slowly becoming Russell Wilson during his last few Seattle years in that every game will feature multiple plays that go in the career highlights YouTube compilation and a few of the worst plays you'll ever see. Unfortunately, that appears to be a continuation of last season in some regard.
While there were enough splash plays against a good opponent (DJ Moore rollout, evading sacks) to give Bears fans confidence that he will thrive in Johnson's offense, he can't afford too many more collapses like this. Fair or unfair, the pressure is on for Williams in his second season as a pro.
Ben Johnson: 3/10
Johnson will need more than one game to totally fix a franchise that has spent the last few years spinning their wheels in the mediocre tier, especially with a young quarterback who has some issues that need to be worked out. That being said, the passiveness near the end of the game was not a good look.
D'Andre Swift: 6/10
The Bears chose not to invest any premium NFL Draft picks in their running back room due to their confidence in Swift, and he looked just as ineffective as he did last season. Swift averaged just 3.1 yards per carry and had one run longer than 12 yards, making him look like the struggling player from last year.
Dennis Allen: 3/10
Allen earned an A+ for the first three quarters, leaving McCarthy looking completely overwhelmed. As bad as the end of this game was (and make no mistake, it was wretched), Allen showed that his defensive scheme can be lethal once he gets the heavy-hitters in the secondary back.
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Cairo Santos: 9/10
Williams struggled at times, but you saw what the path to success looks like. Santos, on the other hand, was so bad that the Bears should consider finding someone to replace him. Between a missed field goal and his inability to kick the ball into the end zone for a touchback in a clock-saving scenario, Santos' weak leg is running out of road.