Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 59-37 in the highest-scoring season opener in NFL history. Bears head coach Ben Johnson said he wanted to be the highest-scoring offense and lapped the previous highest-scoring offense—the 2013 Denver Broncos scored 37.9 a game—Chicago adding 21 of them thangs on Day 1.
Mustached Caleb Williams, 334 total yards and 4 total touchdowns—including a 29-yard scramble to the house—you can’t spell MVP without the words “Caleb Williams is the MVP”.
CALEB WILLIAMS WITH ANOTHER RUSHING TD
CHIvsCAR on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/2PrIr5jYnz— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026
An early game Luther Burden fumble, anvil falling from sky, the vibes could’ve cratered. We are not so many years removed from Mitch Trubisky ball.
But Bears head coach Ben Johnson came into this season burdened by ambitions of greatness and was never leaving Sunday’s game against the Panthers without succeeding. Never.
“You’ve got 31 other teams coming to training camp saying, ‘Our goal is to win the Super Bowl.’ I want more than that,” Johnson told The Athletic. “That’ll always be the goal. We want to be the highest scoring, we want to have the most wins, we want to win Super Bowls. That’s what we do,” Johnson said. “We didn’t get into this profession trying to be mediocre or average.”
Ben Johnson warned the NFL of his plans and the Carolina Panthers didn’t take him seriously.
552 total yards, 7.9 yards per play, 291 rushing yards—DeAndre Swift responsible for 124 of those rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 18 carries—backup RB Kyle Monangai going for 100 on just 10 carries—the Bears mauled the Panthers, answering that conundrum sweeping middle school lunchrooms this September: “which animal would win in a fight?”
Chicago’s offense on-pace to break every record ever, but Ben Johnson also had another quote from that Athletic interview: ” I want shutouts. I want blowouts.”
The Carolina Panthers scored 37 points and recorded 478 yards of total offense—Bryce Young going 23-for-37 for 367 yards and 3 touchdowns (and a pick).
I understand it’s difficult to keep the other team’s offense stagnant when your offense is dropping quick buckets over and over, sending possessions back to the other team—but the Chicago Bears will need to break the offensive scoring record to win the Super Bowl, their defense looking like they’re about to allow opposing offenses to break records against them.
“I want shutouts,” Ben Johnson may starve the defense for embarrassing him. As you read this, there’s a Bear cornerback locked in a broom closet until practice is over.
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