Vikings Defense Extra Confident Entering Matchup vs Caleb Williams, Bears Offense

We are a mere few hours away from the kickoff of Minnesota Vikings football 2025. The Vikings enter the NFC North showdown as -1.5 road favorites against the Chicago Bears.

Local reporters are following that line pretty closely, as all Vikings beat reporters with recorded predictions for tonight’s matchup picked Minnesota to squeak out a close victory in the Windy City. National media pundits are more split.

Had they seen the exchange between three MN Vikings beat writers during their most recent “Access Vikings” podcast episode — like you are about to — I’d imagine many of their big timer national colleagues would reconsider.

I’m pretty convinced is the most under-reported Vikings vs Bears storyline of the day, leading up to week 1’s Monday Night Football opener in Chicago. It involves Bears QB Caleb Williams and how the Minnesota defense is feeling internally about tonight’s nationally televised game.

But first, let’s cover some quick background because this was the context, before we can properly introduce the conversation you came here to read about, which took place between Ben Goessling, Andrew Krammer and Emily Leiker from the Star Tribune.

The Caleb Williams bombshell story

In case you haven’t heard, an article written by independent NFL insider Tyler Dunne recently dropped over at his website, GoLong.com. In the piece, the respected NFL insider details just how impossible 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams was to coach last season.

Not only was his attitude a problem, but so was his QB processor and leadership abilities. Obviously, all of the above cause major friction with coaches and teammates.

Williams struggled to execute elementary tasks. Every day was a new disaster.

That early, that spring, the Bears changed the snap count to appease Williams. Instead of using a combination of colors and numbers like every other team in the NFL, the Bears reverted to a “Ready, set, go!” straight out of JV football because that’s what the quarterback requested.

Aside from the obvious on-field consequences — defenders could tee off — the Bears were establishing a troubling precedent in allowing a rookie to tell them exactly what to do. Veterans couldn’t believe it. “Are you shitting me?” one receiver asked a coach.

GoLongTD.com (reporting by Tyler Dunne)

Related: MN Vikings Picks, Predictions vs Bears – Local Reporters vs National Media

It sounds like Tyler got most of his information from the Bears’ former coaching staff, which was replaced by former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson & Co, and detail just how much disfunction was happening behind the scenes last year in Chicago.

It’s a must-read story that Minnesota Vikings fans should all go read, in order to understand where Williams’ development was at, prior to Ben Johnson taking over. If Caleb is good tonight, Ben might really be a genius. If not, the Bears franchise might be in trouble.

And that brings us back to the aforementioned Star Tribune beat writers, who were discussing Tyler’s piece on their Saturday evening episode of Access Vikings, a conversation that brought them back to Caleb Williams vs the Minnesota Vikings defense.

Minnesota Vikings defense salivating over Bears matchup

From the sounds of it, Brian Flores and “his group of dogs” already know exactly how this Monday night story ends, and it doesn’t bode well for last year’s No. 1 overall pick.

According to Andrew Krammer and Ben Goessling, Brian Flores and the boys are feeling downright cocky (my words not his) this week that — right in front of Bears fans fans and for the entire football world to see — they are going to eat Chicago’s sophomore QB alive.

Sounds like the Vikings defense plans on dismembering Bears QB Caleb Williams in front of the entire nation tonight… 👀🫣

Krammer: "I think Brian Flores and this group of, for lack of a better phrase, this group of dogs that he's got, that are just ready to pounce on Caleb… pic.twitter.com/k61sBcOWpI

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) September 8, 2025

Krammer: “Chicago is under the microscope to start this game, in a prime time setting. First game with a new head coach, first game with this quarterback that needs to be your savior…I’m fascinated to see because they’re so talented.

We know they’re going to be well-coached this time based on what Ben Johnson did in Detroit. But Detroit and Jared Goff and Ben Johnson took some time to build what they did I just don’t think it’s going to look great, or it’s not going to look like a carbon copy or a microwaved version [of the 2024 Lions] in week one.

And I think Brian Flores and this group of, for lack of a better phrase, this group of dogs that he’s got, that are just ready to pounce on Caleb Williams. At a risk of sounding like a homer. I’m pretty excited to see what it looks like for this Vikings defense against a Chicago group that is still trying to find their footing.”

Goessling: “Yeah, we got the sense this week that um they’re feeling pretty good about what they may be able to do to affect Caleb Williams on Monday night. Yeah, that that sentiment came through pretty clearly this week.”

Access Vikings Podcast

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All of the confidence being displayed by the Vikings defense this week, as talked about between Goessling and Krammer, came before Dunne’s devastating story on Williams dropped. God help that kid if anyone on the Vikings’ front seven has read that story since… which they likely all have.

Feeling cocky yet, MN Vikings fans…?

I’m not sure you you are feeling, at this point on Monday afternoon. When this article was written, we were four hours away from the 7:15 pm CDT kickoff. I felt good about Minnesota’s chances tonight, even prior to watching Access Vikings.

But after realizing the confidence Brian Flores’ defense has coming into this game — not to mention the concerns floating around Chicago after the Williams article dropped at GoLongTD.com — I suddenly feel much better about how tonight’s NFC North divisional game will play out. And just for sticking around, you get a

Krammer: “Just all camp, all three of us watching this defense just get after it. And it’s tough. We’re sitting there going, “Okay, how much of this is the rookie or young QB in McCarthy versus this veteran laden defense?” But man, it didn’t matter if it was Ryan Kelly. It didn’t matter if it was Brian O’Neal out there. This defensive front was getting after guys.”

Goessling: And they were talking [smack] about it every single time they did it. I mean, that that group was playing with uh, to quote Tim Brewster, their chili was hot. So, they uh, you know, if you want to go bear hunting, you got to bring something to get the bear. You can’t go in with a pellet gun if you’re trying to get the bear. You want to get some, you got to bring some. And I think they’re going to bring some on Monday night.

Access Vikings Podcast