​CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – SEPTEMBER 13: D’Andre Swift #4 of the Chicago Bears celebrates after his rushing touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in the first quarter of a game at Bank of America Stadium on September 13, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Chicago Bears’ 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers was a perfect way to kick off the season because, while so much went right, there’s still plenty that didn’t for head coach Ben Johnson to focus on. Most notably, the defense that allowed Carolina to get 478 yards of offense and 24 first downs. In his postgame press conference, Johnson was asked how they can solve some of their defensive issues, and he used that as a way to discuss them getting better overall. “We talked about with the team, find a way to get to the plane with a win. And we did that,” Johnson said in his postgame press conference. “We accomplished that. Now we’re in a race to improve — in all three phases and collectively as a team. That’s what we gotta do. So we’ll take a look at the tape. What can we get better at? You know, it only gets harder from here on out. And yet, I told those guys, you’d like to think in a long season like this, we’re playing our worst football early on, and we continue to get better and better and better. That’s really the message right there. All three phases, we all got to get better each and every week.”Johnson has set a high bar for his team in 2026, and his offense’s performance will obviously make him happy. They racked up 552 yards of offense, had 26 first downs, and were 71.4% (10-14) on third-down tries. But the defense’s woes and their 12 penalties (for 57 yards) matched the 12 times his team was penalized in Week 1 last season. One aspect of the game that everyone will be pleased with is the 291 yards rushing, Chicago’s most in a game since getting 302 on September 9, 1984.Johnson acknowledged how his entire offense had a hand in it. “The story of the game ended up being the rushing and, so, the offensive line — shout out to them,” he said. “But it was collective with the tight ends, the receivers were blocking their tails off as well. And Swifty (D’Andre Swift) and (Kyle) Monangai both were able to do a great job there. Caleb added quite a bit with his feet also.”Ben gave the offensive line a game ball in his locker room speech, and their o-line spokesman, right guard Jonah Jackson, made sure to spread the love, saying, “It took all of us, tight ends, wideouts, backs, QB, and a shout out to the playcaller.”The 59-37 win was good, but the Bears are a long way from being the best.Let’s look at the Bears’ playing time breakdowns and a few individual stats from the game.OFFENSECaleb Williams is just the 4th quarterback in NFL history with at least 250 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, 2 touchdown passes, 2 rushing touchdowns, and a passer rating over 120 in the same game. He also