The Bears’ season opener is a fascinating one. They host the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night at Soldier Field in a matchup of elite coaches and coordinators, of top veteran talents and young, unproven quarterbacks. 

Sign us up to start the season that way. While storylines aplenty are surrounding this game, one stands out above the rest. 

Bears head coach/offensive play caller Ben Johnson and his band of explosive skill players vs. Brian Flores’ tenacious D. 

There are several angles to examine within that matchup, which Nicholas Moreano and Scott Bair (that’s me!) will break down in a new weekly debate series on MarqueeSportsNetwork.com.

NICK: Scott, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Ben Johnson is undefeated against Brian Flores since he became the defensive coordinator of the Vikings in 2023. Johnson’s offenses in Detroit scored 30 or more points in all four games and won each of them. 

Johnson, up to this point, has figured out Flores. So, I expect Caleb Williams and this Bears offense to put up some points on Monday night. 

Is that fair to assume?

SCOTT: Call me skeptical, Nick. Covering 17 NFL seasons and zero playoff teams since 2016 will do that to you. I’ll choose to rely on Johnson’s outlook here, that his personal success against the Vikings doesn’t guarantee success on Monday night. 

Despite heavy investments in the offensive line and the skill spots, the Bears aren’t on the Lions’ level quite yet. And while there are similarities between Johnson’s system in Detroit and what has been installed in Chicago, they aren’t identical twins. 

There are too many uncertainties entering this game to know exactly what will transpire. With a pair of mad scientists in Johnson and Flores, there will be new looks and play designs that aren’t on tape anywhere. That’ll lead to some explosive plays and maybe a few mistakes. While these play designers are elite, it’ll be their ability to adjust and counterpunch that ultimately wins the day. 

Williams is the wild card here. That said, Williams did pretty well against Flores his first time out. 

NICK: In Williams’ first game against Flores’ defense last season at Soldier Field, he completed 32 of 47 pass attempts for 340 yards and two touchdowns. Williams only threw for more yards against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3 with 363. Jared Goff has never thrown for that many yards against Flores’ defenses in Minnesota. Now, Williams didn’t play as well in the Monday night game in Minnesota, finishing 18 of 31 for 191 yards and a touchdown in the Bears’ 30-12 loss. 

But imagine what Williams can do in Johnson’s offense. 

SCOTT: Sky’s the limit for the Williams-Johnson pairing. The schematics are top-tier. So is the play calling. Williams has all the talent in the world to execute an offense in rhythm and make explosive plays when playing off schedule. 

There’s little doubt that Williams can orchestrate one scoring drive after another with the skill players available to him and the high-priced protection up front. The issue, as it has been all summer, comes before the snap. The first unit has struggled to get lined up and run through their pre-snap responsibilities on a consistent basis. Delay-of-game penalties were common during camp, as were false starts and times where the offense simply had to re-huddle. 

Williams must execute that part of his job well, making the right reads and checks to get the Bears set up for success before the play clock runs out. If he does that correctly and plays within the structure of the offense, he and the Bears will be rewarded with points and explosive plays. 

One issue: there’s zero doubt that Flores has read the press clips about pre-snap struggles and will try to confuse the heck out of Williams and make that part of his job harder. Can the second-year pro overcome all that? He’ll have to for the Bears to be successful. 

NICK: I’m positive that Flores will do everything he possibly can to make Week 1 as difficult as possible for Williams and Johnson. And the second-year quarterback said it best in his Wednesday press conference that the Bears must prove they can replicate the success Johnson had against Flores in Detroit. We will have to wait to see if that happens Monday night, but I still believe the Johnson-Williams era starts off hot in primetime against their division rival.