When you score 59 points against a team in an NFL game, you’re going to see accusations of “running up the score.” So after Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson did that in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, he had to address those accusations to the media.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Johnson claimed that he needed to have the Bears score as much as possible because Carolina’s offense was just so potent. He pointed out that the Panthers also showed a knack for comebacks in 2025 that he didn’t want to be subjected to.
“I think we needed it,” Johnson said, via ProFootballTalk. “The game was still back and forth at that point. Anytime you’re still within a couple of scores there in the fourth quarter, the game is still on, and so we needed that. I forget what time it was that we took the field for that last drive, and it was, ‘Guys, we want to finish the game with the ball’, and then ended up getting one to pop through, and ‘Swifty’ [D’Andre Swift] ended up scoring there at the end.
“But I thought they did a really good job in the fourth quarter, pressing on the gas. And it’s a credit to Carolina more than anything. We went into the game with a lot of respect for how well they could play in the fourth quarter. They had a number of games a year ago where the quarterback and the offense found a way to come back and win from behind, that was just something that was on our mind going into the game. We knew we couldn’t let off the gas.”
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Fear the Bears
To his credit, the majority of fans who saw the game were less upset at the Bears for running up the score and more terrified that the Bears have an offense that’s capable of scoring nearly 60 points in a game.
The Bears offense had a whopping 291 yards and six touchdowns just on the ground. QB Caleb Williams was responsible for 65 of those yards and one of the touchdowns while adding another 269 passing yards and two more TDs through the air.
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The Panthers, who kept the game close for the first three quarters before the dam finally broke midway through the fourth, had a solid offensive showing of their own. Even in defeat they had 478 total yards of offense, with star QB Bryce Young throwing for 361 yards and three touchdown.
There’s a lot to like about both offenses even if it is early in the season.
But the Bears showed early that they might be the most dangerous offense in the league.
