Week 1: Bears vs Vikings on MNF

[BigbadB]

8 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

sorry I don’t normally link to twitter but I didn’t see this angle of that 4th down botched throw. Just awful. 

While that one was terrible, I thought the deep route to DJ was even worse. I watched each replay completely mind boggled how you can miss DJ by that much. You couldn't even see the ball in the window of where DJ was and he was WIDE OPEN. 

[Sosa21MVP]

8 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

You think so?  Look at that first drive again, I saw Caleb holding the ball a long time and improvising when the protection broke down. It was no doubt successful but it didn’t feel like it was within the flow of the offense Ben Johnson wanted to run. I could be wrong but it’s something I noted at the time even though it was a TD drive

I felt the same way at the time. 

[UMFan83]

9 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

While that one was terrible, I thought the deep route to DJ was even worse. I watched each replay completely mind boggled how you can miss DJ by that much. You couldn't even see the ball in the window of where DJ was and he was WIDE OPEN. 

The one where DJ is waiving his arms for 2 seconds and the ball ends up out of bounds?

[jersey cubs fan]

21 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

I hope Caleb does become a great QB, but if Caleb continues to struggle and makes the same mistakes again and again, I still fear that he will be on an extra long leash because your coach and GM just started long-term contracts

I really don’t see Caleb being on a long leash, exactly because of those long-term contracts. If they stick with him for a long time their own stars start to fade. If Caleb can’t improve by midseason he is probably benched at least temporarily and a losing season will result in relatively open competition for the job next summer. 
 

they have too many holes to be able to trade up for a new qb this draft, and 2026 will probably be a hodgepodge of qb play with that following offseason being the time when Ben will get to select his guy. 
 

Or Caleb can take some gradual steps and be serviceable by mid season. It’ll help to go against some non-Vikings defenses eventually. 

[BigbadB]

3 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

The one where DJ is waiving his arms for 2 seconds and the ball ends up out of bounds?

Yeah, but it wasn't out of bounds. It was out of state or Lake Michigan.

[BigbadB]

I felt like Minnesota was sending extra rushers the entire second half because Caleb had no answers for that, and that should mean open receivers all over the field, but Caleb was firing the ball in the exact spot all the extra defenders were hanging out. Right on the line of scrimmage. Horrible place to look for an open guy.

 

[gflore34]

7 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

I really don’t see Caleb being on a long leash, exactly because of those long-term contracts. If they stick with him for a long time their own stars start to fade. If Caleb can’t improve by midseason he is probably benched at least temporarily and a losing season will result in relatively open competition for the job next summer. 
 

they have too many holes to be able to trade up for a new qb this draft, and 2026 will probably be a hodgepodge of qb play with that following offseason being the time when Ben will get to select his guy. 
 

Or Caleb can take some gradual steps and be serviceable by mid season. It’ll help to go against some non-Vikings defenses eventually. 

I agree, he has 6-8 games to get his horsefeathers together, don't think Ben Johnson going to watch Caleb repeatedly make the same mistakes. 

[CubinNY]

I didn't watch much after the first quarter. And I'm going to go full meatball for a second. 

Why can't they call plays to force him to make quick decisions? Like, runs some 8 yard route quck slants and outs and tell him to fire the ball. Just keep doing that until the defense softens up. That's what Tom Brady did for 10 years. He learned how to get rid of the ball quickly first. 

It seems so easy from the comfort of the couch. 

[BigbadB]

Just now, gflore34 said:

I agree, he has 6-8 games to get his horsefeathers together, don't think Ben Johnson going to watch Caleb repeatedly make the same mistakes. 

I'd be shocked if Ben waited that long to pull the trigger. You can't not see wide open receivers and/or overthrow them consistently and keep your job, I don't care where you were drafted. 

[mul21]

Just some random thoughts:

-I've never seen a game flip on a phantom holding call like last night before.

-I knew the FG before halftime was going to come back to haunt them as soon as the long completion happened.  Had a bad feeling about the missed FG and going for it on 4th down early too.

-Defense is absolutely hot garbage and I'm not sure the injured guys coming back fixes anything.

-I said I expected the first 4-5 games to look rough as Caleb learns the offense and has to execute against real defenses and while last night was disappointing, I have to stick with that.  If we don't see significant improvement by week 4, I almost expect a QB change after the bye.

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

I'd be shocked if Ben waited that long to pull the trigger. You can't not see wide open receivers and/or overthrow them consistently and keep your job, I don't care where you were drafted. 

You're probably correct, if there's no marked improvement soon, he very well may bench him.  This isn't the Bears "ruining" a QB, on the contrary, the coaching staff is putting him in a position to succeed - it's all on Caleb now. 

[PosterToBeNamedLater]

9 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

You think so?  Look at that first drive again, I saw Caleb holding the ball a long time and improvising when the protection broke down. It was no doubt successful but it didn’t feel like it was within the flow of the offense Ben Johnson wanted to run. I could be wrong but it’s something I noted at the time even though it was a TD drive

Yeah I didn't feel good after that first drive at all.  I mean, great, a touchdown... but when ESPN would show the replays and you could clearly see someone breaking wide open downfield and Caleb either not seeing it or not throwing it gave me a really uneasy feeling.  As you said, it definitely didn't feel like the drive had any flow.

My confidence level that he will ever be very good is extremely low right now.  

 

[Wilson A2000]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

You're probably correct, if there's no marked improvement soon, he very well may bench him.  This isn't the Bears "ruining" a QB, on the contrary, the coaching staff is putting him in a position to succeed - it's all on Caleb now. 

Not that it wouldn’t be the right move to bench Caleb, but Ben Johnson didn’t choose the Bears over every other team only to move to Bagent early on unless Ben was incredibly impressed by Tyson in the preseason

[Wilson A2000]

Just now, PosterToBeNamedLater said:

Yeah I didn't feel good after that first drive at all.  I mean, great, a touchdown... but when ESPN would show the replays and you could clearly see someone breaking wide open downfield and Caleb either not seeing it or not throwing it gave me a really uneasy feeling.  As you said, it definitely didn't feel like the drive had any flow.

My confidence level that he will ever be very good is extremely low right now.  

 

Caleb is a smart dude. If he struggles throwing the ball deep, don’t even bother taking the shots lol. 

[jersey cubs fan]

5 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Just some random thoughts:

-I've never seen a game flip on a phantom holding call like last night before.

You have. The Bears have for years been a team that can occasionally look competent offensively up until the point something bad happens. Good teams recover. The Bears do not. A drive into scoring position then back to back negative plays erasing a scoring opportunity is this organization’s bread and butter the last 5 years 

[BigbadB]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

You're probably correct, if there's no marked improvement soon, he very well may bench him.  This isn't the Bears "ruining" a QB, on the contrary, the coaching staff is putting him in a position to succeed - it's all on Caleb now. 

That's exactly it. They spent most of their free agent money protecting him. Got the best minds to coach him and gave him receivers that Mahomes would drool over. You can't go out there looking like a deer in the headlights. You have to take control of the team and make plays happen. You will lose your teammates very soon if you continue to air mail wide open receivers. Ben doesn't seem like a guy who will tolerate less than NFL caliber talent. I want Caleb to be that guy more than anyone, but last night was so frustrating minus the first drive.

[jersey cubs fan]

15 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I didn't watch much after the first quarter. And I'm going to go full meatball for a second. 

Why can't they call plays to force him to make quick decisions? Like, runs some 8 yard route quck slants and outs and tell him to fire the ball. Just keep doing that until the defense softens up. That's what Tom Brady did for 10 years. He learned how to get rid of the ball quickly first. 

It seems so easy from the comfort of the couch. 

Caleb is awful with quick stuff. He has a few quick strike plays late and missed by significant margins and/or threw the ball into a defender. 

[mul21]

3 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

You have. The Bears have for years been a team that can occasionally look competent offensively up until the point something bad happens. Good teams recover. The Bears do not. A drive into scoring position then back to back negative plays erasing a scoring opportunity is this organization’s bread and butter the last 5 years 

Oh, that's a patented move for sure.  What I'm saying is from that the outcome of the game is likely different if that call isn't made.  They went from 1st and 10 at like the 15(ish) to 1st and 20 at the 45.  If they bleed a little more clock and score there, they probably win the game. Everything went completely to horsefeathers after that call.

[UMFan83]

20 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I didn't watch much after the first quarter. And I'm going to go full meatball for a second. 

Why can't they call plays to force him to make quick decisions? Like, runs some 8 yard route quck slants and outs and tell him to fire the ball. Just keep doing that until the defense softens up. That's what Tom Brady did for 10 years. He learned how to get rid of the ball quickly first. 

It seems so easy from the comfort of the couch. 

He did throw a couple of quick screens.  I believe both were thrown poorly and ended up being losses.  Yeah I've wondered for years why my teams don't throw more quick slants.  Not sure why, but I trust that Ben Johnson knows what he's doing.

[minnesotacubsfan]

12 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

The turf didnt cause him to try to throw that ball though 

something caused him to trip, could have been his own feet but also turf

Edited September 9, 2025 by minnesotacubsfan

[Derwood]

Cubs suck, Bears suck.

I'm fully expecting Penn State to cruise until the Ohio State game, where they'll suffer a soul-crushing loss.

And the Blue Jackets will miss the playoffs by 2 points again.

My life as a sports fan

[Bobson Dugnutt]

 

[Have a seat, Neifi]

^

Ouch.

[Cubs420psd]

Anyone see a reason yet why using a 4th round pick on Tory Taylor was a good idea? 

 

 

[Cubs420psd]

6 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Cubs suck, Bears suck.

I'm fully expecting Penn State to cruise until the Ohio State game, where they'll suffer a soul-crushing loss.

And the Blue Jackets will miss the playoffs by 2 points again.

My life as a sports fan

If PSU offense plays like last week they aren't beating Oregon.