Ben Johnson knows how to put up points against Brian Flores.

In the previous four matchups, while Johnson was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions and Flores the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, Johnson’s offenses scored 30 or more points and won each of those games. Lions quarterback Jared Goff had six touchdown passes to just two interceptions and completed 102-of-130 of his pass attempts.

Johnson devised game plans to exploit the aggressive nature that Flores has established in Minnesota since becoming the team’s defensive coordinator in 2023.

But that was in Detroit, and now Johnson has a completely different team in Chicago, led by second-year quarterback Caleb Williams. The Lions may have scored 31 points each time against the Vikings last season, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily translate, starting on Monday night against the Vikings at Soldier Field to open the Bears’ 2025 season.

“I don’t think actually much of it is … we’ve got to go out there and prove it,” Williams said. “We’ve got to go out there and do it. That part of it was the Lions and Ben with the Lions. We all have to prove it again, and we have to prove it as Bears, and he has to prove it again as a coach that we can go out there and put up as many points as possible on them.”

The Bears will have plenty to prove in this Week 1 matchup, and much of the anticipation will be placed on Williams to execute Johnson’s offense that has been proven to work against Flores’ defense.

Minnesota’s unit featured two pass rushers in Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, who ended the 2024 season with 12 and 11.5 sacks, respectively. Then the team added interior defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Jarvon Hargrave. The two have a combined 87.5 sacks in their careers.

The Bears made significant upgrades on the offensive line as well, adding veterans Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson. They will all be tested against a dangerous Vikings pass rush.

“The beauty of the defense, I said it yesterday — they create a lot of one-on-one matchups,” Johnson said. “When you have guys they feel good about winning their one on ones, it puts a lot of stress on our guys. I think we know the task at hand. We’ll see how practice goes here this week. It’s hard to have any breather plays this week. It’s just the nature of how Flo calls it. We gotta be locked in if we wanna have success against this defense.”

What Flores’ defense does well is confuse quarterbacks with the number of players who can line up on the line of scrimmage, creating confusion as to who will apply pressure. Any hesitation from the quarterback gives the defense more time to hit home.

Williams dealt with his fair share of holding onto the football longer than he should’ve, whether that was because of lapses in protection or him looking to extend plays. It was a part of the reason he was sacked a league-high 68 times in his rookie year.

The last time Williams played the Vikings at Soldier Field, he displayed the positives and negatives that come with trying to play outside of structure. Williams’ 30-yard pass to D’Andre Swift down the right sideline is an example that highlights Williams ability to make plays even when the defense has a free rusher to the quarterback.

“Just like that play, the opportunity presented itself for him to be him,” Swift told Marquee Sports Network. “He was trying to stay within the scheme, but stuff happens for you to kind of get off and then that’s where you showcase your talents. So it’s really important for everybody to kind of play within the scheme, and then when opportunity calls itself for you to go out and showcase your natural-born abilities, that’s when you do so.”

In overtime of that same game, Williams tried to extend a play, but took a sack that resulted in a 12-yard loss on second down. The Bears punted on that drive, and the Vikings scored the game-winning field goal on the following possession.

Johnson’s offense is predicated on timing and rhythm, so Williams will have to find that balance of when to become a playmaker outside of structure and balance that with taking what the defense gives him, even if that is a checkdown or incompletion.

And Williams understands that what happened the last time Johnson’s offense faced Flores’ defense won’t be a direct reflection of what will happen on Monday night at Soldier Field. Adjustments will be made by both sides going into this matchup, and Williams feels confident that Johnson will bring out the best in him.

“I’ve got the utmost confidence in Ben in his coaching ability, his play-calling and all of that,” Williams said. “I think it comes down to being able to execute exactly what he puts out there for us as a team, as an offense. Throughout the week when we’re messing up, which is going to happen, we have to get back in the huddle, redo it. So that when it happens on gameday, we go out there and execute exactly what he dishes out for us.”