Jason McIntyre (4:20)
All right, so I don't start my show with statistics very often, but I thought this was very interesting and it serves a point. So in the first drive, Caleb Williams is 6 for 6 with 102 passer rating. The rest of the game, he completed 50% and a passer rating in the 70s. That's a backup in the NFL. J.J. mcCarthy in the first three quarters, unwatchable, a 34 passer rating. Look terrified in the fourth quarter. Six of eight, one hundred and one passer rating. My takeaway, the further the Bears Caleb Williams got off script, the worse it got. The more J.J. mcCarthy could play loose, intuitive football, the better it got. So don't be afraid to have a strong opinion after one game. Caleb on script, velocity, horsepower, he can move on script, look comfortable and daring and good. But that opening drive in the third quarter, you could watch Ben Johnson, who was visibly frustrated with his lack of accuracy. There were also four false starts, 12 total Chicago penalties, eight on the offense, so. And he was missing badly with open receivers. So, I mean, I think he's talented enough to beat bad teams and mediocre coordinators, but that's not his division. And he was one in five against his division last year. The only win when the packers rested starters. So there. You can't watch that game and not be a little unsettled. Off script. It looks like usc. Caleb Williams, wow, he's talented. And so was Cam Newton. And in 11 seasons, Cam Newton had three winning seasons. Because Cam was all over the map and too often relied on talent. His mechanics eroded, his accuracy regressed. It was hit and miss. And that was the knock on Caleb coming in. He had all sorts of talent, but there's a million talented lounge singers working at bad saloons. They're not coachable. They don't manage themselves well. You know, they, they, you know, they aren't consistent. The NFL is so much more than just arm talent. Jay Cutler had a great arm. Justin Fields, finally, as a passing game coordinator he likes in New York. You saw what he did. I also thought Caleb panicked when the first and second receiver weren't there. Now, again, Brian Flores, in my opinion, I have said this for like a year, is the best defensive coordinator in football, in my opinion. I think the staff of Minnesota this year, the athletic did a piece. It ranked San Francisco second best overall staff, Minnesota number one. So you may not face a coaching staff this good. Green Bay's is pretty good the rest of the season, but Caleb does too many things that losing quarterbacks do. The false starts. Now it's first and 15 or it's second and 12. He panics with pressure. His, his off script. His accuracy dips when he's moving. And he had an extra year ahead of J.J. mcCarthy. J.J. mcCarthy just hasn't played in a couple years. I mean, he didn't even play in the preseason much. So I thought when you watch this game, there is a way to win in this league. This is what Belichick talked about with Brady. You can't have penalties, you can't play behind the sticks. You have got to be moving forward. And Ben Johnson's body language, he was frustrated, he was puzzled. He was swearing on the headset. It was just not good enough. You got to give me more than talent. And here was Ben Johnson after we said going into week one that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game. And unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that. We made too many there late in the game, myself included, 12 penalties. That's. That's got to get cleaned up in a hurry. And yet we've been saying that all training camp as well. So, you know, we'll find a way to get that done. It's going to be a collective effort. No one's pointing fingers. First half, mostly on script. You felt pretty Good about it. The further Caleb got off script. Hero ball, panicking, lack of accuracy, all the things scout said they were concerned about. All right, J.J. mcCarthy. I've never seen a game like that. I've never seen a quarterback do that. So the fact that J.J. mcCarthy ended up with a 98 passer rating after the first three quarters is remarkable. I mean, the Vikings still only finished 3 for 12 on third down and six fewer first downs than the Bears. They were unwatchable offensively for three quarters. But I have found my JJ McCarthy comp. It's Baker Mayfield play at a college power. Tons of emotion, a lot of energy. I wish they were bigger, but all they have to do. Baker and J.J. mcCarthy can go into slumps and get reckless, but if they make one big throw and they gain that confidence, their velocity and their accuracy changes. And he. After that, pick six, which is about as bad as any pick six I've ever seen. I mean, he was. He was bad in the first three quarters, but then there was a moment for JJ McCarthy, and this is very Baker Mayfield. There was a moment. It was in the fourth quarter. He hit Justin Jefferson with a seed. And that this play right here unleashed something. The next three drives, it was a different J.J. mcCarthy. And this is Baker. All Baker needs to step into it. One rope, and Baker changes the ball, comes out faster, more velocity and more accuracy. And again, he's got Kevin O' Connell and Josh McCown. You cannot get better as a quarterback. So what you really saw from JJ McCarthy is an old saying. Nobody is going to believe in you in life until you believe in yourself. And you watched his body language change. He's like Baker. He plays with a ton of emotion. He got a little chip on his shoulder. He wins a lot of football games, but you saw two different quarterbacks. The first three quarters was a coaching staff, and again, he hadn't played much that was protecting him. And they were kind of just waiting for it to happen. I text somebody last night, an NFL exec. He, and I say, what do you. I said, what do you make of this game plan? And he goes in KOC I trust he didn't play much in the preseason. He hasn't played a lot of snaps. They're probably thinking, in Minnesota, let Caleb Williams make mistakes with Brian Flores. Let's just try to stay in the game. He'll make a play later. And he did. And I got to tell you, that was a different quarterback in the fourth quarter. Here is Kevin OConnell after J.J. mcCarthy. For him to make some of the plays he did, I told him at halftime, you are going to bring us back to win this game. And the look in his eye was fantastic. And the best thing is just the belief I felt from the team, the unit. And ultimately that doesn't get done without him in the second half. Two passing touchdowns and then the critical rushing touchdown, you know, at the end. Now it does help. Minnesota's got better ownership, a better front office, a proven coach, a better roster. They were favored in the game. I said all week this was the last blazing 5 pick. I didn't pick, I picked Minnesota. I thought this was one of the games. I just trusted the Minnesota Viking organization, their coaching staff. I think Ben Johnson's a really good coach, but it's just in big games, Caleb Williams has often been worse than the one o' clock window. So Minnesota this morning, J. Mac and I are laughing before the show. What is J.J. mcCarthy? Well, I think he's going to be closer to the fourth quarter than the first three. And again it is. Kevin O' Connell was tall, called the tall Sean McVeigh when he went to Minnesota. And people have talked about if you drafted coaches right now he'd be a top three or a four coach. He can build a culture. He played in the league. Tall, good looking guy with a lot of confidence. Look what he did to Sam Darnold. I don't think JJ McCarthy is gifted enough to get a defensive coach or an average coaching staff and flourish. But there is something about Justin Jefferson, the production. They get their left tackle back soon. They did start to develop a run game, a pretty consistent run game in the second half that also helped field position and confidence. But if you're a Viking fan this morning and a Bears fan, I know that one quarterback outplayed the other for three quarters. But a Viking fan looks at that fourth and says, I absolutely believe we've got our guy for the next decade. I don't think anybody in Chicago, except maybe Caleb Williams is thinking that this morning. I don't know if Ben Johnson's thinking that because the body language with Ben Johnson was disappointment. Even when JJ McCarthy was struggling. I didn't sense that from Kevin O'. Connell. He was just sort of monitoring and watching, understanding the situation. The body language from Ben was these are, these are dialed up to work and you're not hitting them. So J. Mac, one of the, I mean, how good was week one of the NFL?
