J.J. McCarthy Sizzles As Caleb Williams, Bears Fall Flat on Monday Night Football

J.J. McCarthy could have allowed his mistake to define his night. Instead, it became a footnote to a memorable NFL debut.

On the Vikings’ first drive of the third quarter and trailing 10–6, McCarthy had Minnesota in field goal range facing third-and-8 from the Chicago 32-yard line. Instead of making either a positive or safe play, McCarthy short-armed an out route to All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson, allowing former Vikings corner Nahshon Wright to nab a 74-yard pick-six.

Leading 17–6, the Bears appeared on cruise control for a Week 1 win on Monday Night Football over the overwhelmed and inexperienced McCarthy at raucous Soldier Field.

Not quite.

Trailing by 11 points in the fourth quarter, McCarthy had done nothing to that point. The 2024 first-round pick was 7-of-12 for 56 yards with the aforementioned interception. Then, suddenly, McCarthy exploded. Over the next three drives, McCarthy went 6-of-8 for 87 yards and two touchdowns to Jefferson and Aaron Jones before punctuating a 21-point fourth quarter with a 14-yard scoring run around the right edge.

For Minnesota, a night filled with frustration turned into the coming out party for McCarthy, who lost his entire rookie season to a torn meniscus.

Through three quarters, the Vikings were held to 65 yards on 28 plays, a hideous 2.3 yards per play. But in the final 15 minutes, Minnesota totaled 164 yards on 18 plays (9.1 YPP) behind its young quarterback, whom Vikings fans hope can become the first homegrown, franchise quarterback since Daunte Culpepper more than 20 years ago.

Last year, Minnesota won 14 games behind the resurrection of Sam Darnold. Darnold came to the Vikings as an assumed placeholder for McCarthy, but then took wing as the starter by throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns under quarterback whisperer Kevin O’Connell. Still, O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah believed in McCarthy enough to let Darnold walk, allowing him to sign a three-year, $100 million contract with the Seahawks this offseason.

McCarthy also stole the spotlight on an evening that served as a first look at Chicago’s new power couple in coach Ben Johnson and second-year quarterback Caleb Williams.

Early, things looked promising. The Bears’ opening drive resulted in a 10-play, 61-yard jaunt capped off by Williams’s nine-yard rushing touchdown. His best throw of the night also came on the march, when Williams laced a 17-yard completion to Rome Odunze while scrambling on the dead run to his right.

It seemed like the Bears’ offense was ready to meet the moment. Instead, by game’s end, Williams was a middling 21-of-35 for 210 yards and a late touchdown toss. His biggest contribution was with his legs, running away from multiple sacks while racking up 58 yards and a score.

After the initial success, Chicago’s next nine drives saw the Bears run 46 plays for 192 yards (4.1 yards per play) while scoring three points. Despite getting the ball back time and again facing a tiring Minnesota defense, Williams couldn’t make the Vikings pay.

Outside of Chicago’s two touchdown drives, Williams was 13-of-25 for 129 yards (5.1 YPA) with an intentional grounding penalty on the fringe of field goal range while leading 17–6 in the fourth quarter.

Offensively, the issues for Chicago included problems that have plagued the unit throughout the summer. After struggling with presnap penalties in training camp, the Bears committed four false start penalties in the first half, stunting promising drives and halting momentum. They were also forced to call timeout before a fourth-and-three at Minnesota’s 24-yard line midway through the second quarter after breaking the huddle with nine seconds on the play clock. After the hiccup, Williams misfired on a throw intended for D.J. Moore II.

Johnson also deserves criticism. After scoring to close to within 27–24 with 2:02 remaining in the fourth quarter and one timeout, Johnson shockingly decided to have Cairo Santos kick off deep. Instead of Santos booming the ball beyond the end line or even sending it out of bounds to make sure Chicago could leverage the two-minute stoppage, Santos kicked to return man Ty Chandler, who wisely took the ball out of the end zone to chew up a valuable seven seconds.

Overall, the Bears committed 12 penalties for 127 yards. In Week 1, only the Titans and Saints were whistled for more infractions, and just Tennessee was penalized for more yardage.

Johnson was a brilliant offensive coordinator with the Lions over the past three years, twice overseeing an attack ranked in the top three in yards per game. But on Monday, he was outcoached down the stretch by O’Connell, a more experienced hand who kept plugging despite nothing going right.

There will be better nights ahead for Williams and Johnson.

But this night belonged to McCarthy, who overcame a brutal moment to create a memorable one.