The Chicago Bears 2025 season got off to a rocky start, highlighted by Monday night’s collapse at home against Minnesota. One of the biggest storylines from that game was kicker Cairo Santos. While Santos has been one of the NFL’s more accurate kickers, concerns about his leg strength continue to surface.

On Monday, those concerns became evident when Santos failed to kick a kickoff out of the end zone while the Bears were trying to conserve the two-minute warning as an extra timeout. Despite his effort, the Vikings were able to return the ball, running precious seconds off the clock and preventing the Bears from using the two-minute warning. The Bears defense forced a three-and-out, but instead of having roughly 50 seconds to work with, Chicago was left with just 16.

Santos also missed a field goal earlier in the game, uncharacteristic of his usual reliability. In response, the Bears signed former 49ers kicker Jake Moody to the practice squad, adding competition for Santos. While competition can be healthy, it’s awkward considering Santos signed a four-year, $16 million contract extension back in December of 2023.

Bears GM Ryan Poles has had his share of missteps. Santos may be a team captain and generally reliable, but his limitations can be costly at critical moments—an issue that reflects poorly on Poles. And as for Moody, he’s not exactly a game-changer either. The Bears might be better off bringing in a kicker with a stronger leg and seeing how he performs.

Cairo Santos was named a team captain this year. He’s been well-liked in the locker room since he arrived. However, that doesn’t seem to impress head coach Ben Johnson. The veteran kicker had a rough outing on Monday night against Minnesota. Not only did he miss a crucial 50-yard field goal, but he also failed to kick the ball out of the end zone to preserve the two-minute warning for the Chicago Bears. Those two mistakes led directly to them losing the game. It was the latest reminder of Santos’ glaring lack of leg strength.

Apparently, the Bears have no intention of letting him forget that. Mere days later, they signed kicker Jake Moody to the practice squad. The former 49ers 3rd round pick faltered last season, connecting on just 70% of his field goals. Then he missed two more in the opener. That got him cut. The Bears decided to bring him onto their practice squad. This serves two purposes. It gives a talented young player a chance to gather himself after a tough time in San Francisco while also sending a clear message to Santos that he better button up.

Cairo Santos usually responds well to challenges.

This isn’t the first time the Bears have brought in some fringe competition when he was struggling. The kicker soon found his focus again and was consistently accurate. Even so, this doesn’t solve the underlying issue. Cairo Santos still has a leg strength problem. To that end, Moody isn’t much of an improvement. He was never known for a booming leg. His two selling points were a knack for late-game heroics, hitting multiple game-winning kicks at Michigan. He was also adept at kickoffs, giving his team a big advantage in coverage. Both of those areas are question marks for the Bears. This is a win-win situation. It allows Moody to escape the nightmare experience in San Francisco and be out of the spotlight while reminding Santos that he isn’t untouchable.

Something strange is going on with Caleb Williams. Anybody following the young quarterback from his time at USC can tell you he has rare arm talent. Not only can he throw with great velocity, but he also has plenty of accuracy. Or at least he had it. Monday night against Minnesota saw Williams misfire several passes. Some of them were throws that high school quarterbacks should make. People couldn’t understand what the problem was. Some blamed Williams’ erratic footwork. Others felt he was way too amped up.

Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner has a different observation. He’s been reviewing Williams’ game films since last year. Monday night was no exception. He feels the Bears quarterback was unfairly criticized for what he saw as a pretty good outing against a tough defense. One other thing popped up. Warner noticed that Williams has a bad tendency to overexaggerate his attempts to look off defenders from the spots he intends to throw to. While the intention is correct, doing it that way can cause the quarterback to throw off the timing of the play. This often leads Williams to rush his throws, resulting in them being off-target.

Caleb Williams hasn’t yet mastered the intricacies of his position.

Keep in mind that he rarely looked off defenders, played under center, and threw timing routes in college. His time at USC was simple:

1. Shotgun spread
2. Look for the open man
3. If nobody is open, scramble around until you find somebody

That is an oversimplified version, but it’s still mostly the truth. Caleb Williams only just started learning how to manipulate defenders with his eyes last season. He doesn’t understand there can be a downside to these things because of how important the eyes are when throwing on time. By turning his head completely away from his first read, he needed to spend a precious extra split-second reacquiring D.J. Moore. By the time Williams saw where the route had progressed, he had to rush his throw.

The good news is that something like this is easily fixable. Ben Johnson and the coaches must insist to Williams that looking off the defender is less important than keeping the play’s timing. More subtlety can be a good thing. Defenders will still follow his gaze even if it’s less obvious. Meanwhile, he should be able to keep track of his targets, leading to fewer misfires.

Hiring Ben Johnson made all the sense in the world. He was the best offensive mind in the NFL last season, leading the Detroit Lions to 564 points and a 15-2 record. If anybody could assess whether Caleb Williams has what it takes to succeed in the league, it’s him. The potential pairing of that talent with that galaxy brain drew so much daydreaming. However, it is important to remember that things don’t always mesh in ways you expect. It can’t just be a physical talent paired with a good play-caller. The two men must be aligned in thought as well. Jared Goff saw football the same way Johnson did in Detroit. That is why it worked so well.

People weren’t sure if Williams would see it that way, considering how different the two quarterbacks’ playing styles are. That is what has Tim Jenkins so nervous. The renowned QB trainer and analyst discussed Williams’ development on Hoge & Jahns. Over the course of the conversation, he mentioned how the two look together on the sideline. He didn’t quite see them meshing as one would think. It reminded him of another prominent pairing, one that imploded spectacularly.

Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams need to bridge their gaps.

Sean Payton was already a Hall of Fame coach by the time he arrived in Denver. He’d put up ridiculous numbers for 15 years in New Orleans. It all came with Drew Brees at quarterback. Payton knew how he wanted his offense run. Russell Wilson was a former Pro Bowler who’d won a Super Bowl. It seemed like an ideal pairing. However, it didn’t take long to detect friction between the two. Reports later surfaced that Payton thought Wilson was a prima donna who freelanced way too often. For somebody who believed so strongly in his offense, that was never going to fly with the coach.

Therein lay the problem. Ben Johnson is wired the same way. He has a steadfast belief in his offense. He works tirelessly to craft every play, honing them to perfection. All he needs is players to execute them as designed. That becomes much more difficult with a quarterback like Williams, who made his name as an elite improviser in college. Few do backyard football better than him. While it can make for great highlights, it can also easily derail the rhythm of an offense.

That is frustrating for a perfectionist like Johnson. If Jenkins is right, that gap could prove difficult to bridge.

Nobody can argue that DJ Moore is among the best players on the Chicago Bears’ offense. He’s been that for the past two years. If anybody should’ve been happy that Ben Johnson had come down from Detroit, it was him. It meant a sharp offensive mind was in charge, meaning greater opportunities for him. Johnson sang his praises, indicating he couldn’t wait to work with the wide receiver. However, he also had a message for Moore and others. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. He planned to demand a lot from them.

The first game was a decent start. Moore had three catches for 68 yards. However, the receiver might’ve fought himself on the wrong end of Johnson’s ire. One of the biggest moments of the game came when Caleb Williams airmailed Moore on what looked like a sure touchdown in the 4th quarter. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle revealed that wasn’t the case. It turns out the receiver adjusted his route away from what was designed, which threw off the play’s timing, resulting in the incompletion.

DJ Moore needs to be careful about such things.

One thing we have learned about Johnson in the short time he’s been around is that he’s meticulous. Every play is designed to be run a specific way. There isn’t any room for freelancing by the players. Jameson Williams confirmed this a few months ago when asked about the difference between Johnson and new Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, John Morton.

“I think he’s allowing the receivers to be receivers. He’s lining up and giving us routes and telling us to go win.”

“He knows our abilities, he knows we can win 1-on-1 routes, he knows how open we can get when we get those 1-on-1 coverages.”

“He’s putting his faith in his guys and I love that about him. He’s aggressive, too. It’s not just me, everyone gets to run more routes, we expanded the offense, we expanded the playbook a little bit.”

That paints a pretty clear picture of Johnson. He expects his wide receivers to run a specific route on every play. Making changes on the fly throws a wrench in the gears, and everything is out of balance. DJ Moore was responsible for that. Now one such mistake won’t lead to any issues. Still, if Moore makes a habit of doing things like that in the future, he may find Johnson less and less receptive to getting him the ball.