Ben Johnson understood that running the football against the Minnesota Vikings would be challenging. 

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ unit finished No. 2 in the NFL in rushing yards allowed last season with 1,588. Minnesota added interior defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to bolster the D-line’s interior. 

A formidable challenge for the Bears’ head coach to start the 2025 NFL regular season. 

“With that being said, we anticipated being on the same page more than what we were,” Johnson said. “There were some times that when we made the ‘Mike’ point, we weren’t all on the same page. That’s a little bit time on task. That’s also a multiplicity of fronts we were seeing this particular week. He makes it very difficult. But we’ve all gotta be on the same page. The sooner that we can grow as a unit, it’s five guys all playing as one, and if you include the tight ends, it’s six or seven as a part of it as well.”

In the 27-24 loss to the Vikings on Monday Night Football at Soldier Field, Caleb Williams led the team with his 58 yards rushing on six carries. He also scored a 9-yard rushing touchdown on the Bears’ opening drive. 

Running back D’Andre Swift carried the ball 17 times for 53 yards, averaging 3.1 yards per carry. 

“I thought Swift ran hard when the ball was in his hands,” Johnson said. “There’s probably a couple reads where he could’ve hit it maybe a little different, but for the most part, I was pretty pleased with how he played.”

However, Johnson wasn’t satisfied with the overall rushing attack. After the game, the Bears’ head coach said he didn’t “feel the rhythm” in the run game, citing the inconsistencies with that portion of his offense. 

“Any time you don’t rush for as many yards as you were hoping for, you look at the stat sheet and it said over 100 yards, but really a lot of those were from Caleb,” Johnson said. “We need more from our runners, whoever that is, or our receivers in the running back room, it doesn’t matter. In the run game, we were sub-par overall.”

Next week’s game against the Detroit Lions, a homecoming for Johnson, will be another tough challenge. The Lions finished as the fifth-best rushing defense last season and only allowed 78 total rushing yards against the Green Bay Packers in their Week 1 loss. 

“Told the players last night that we have a short week and we’ll be moving onto Detroit,” Johnson said Tuesday. “So really they are on their own here today. Player day off. And then we’re going to go ahead and turn the page here quickly because we have our first road game at hand. It’s a good opportunity for us to really find who we want to be down the road.”