"Horrible call," "Worst officiating ever": NFL fans slam referees for "ridiculous" holding penalty against Bears' Darnell Wright vs. Vikings on MNF

The Chicago Bears had a monstrous offseason, especially when it came to their offense.

Ben Johnson, known for his creativity as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator, was hired as head coach. Guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney and center Drew Dalman joined via free agency and trade to bolster the offensive line, and Coslton Loveland and Luther Burden III were drafted to bolster the receiving unit.

There was still at least one glaring issue, however: the tackles. And it became apparent on Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

Towards the end of the third quarter, right tackle Darnell Wright, whom the Bears had drafted tenth overall in 2023, was called for holding backup defensive end Jalen Redmond, costing the team ten yards:

However, fans saw that he was not doing so and protested the decision:

Lukas

@LukasAGS

@dave_bfr Horrible call

Brian Goodwin

@BGoodwin54

Worst officiating I've ever witnessed

josh livingston

@jishbish13

This bullshit ass call completely changed the game. Another year getting screwed by the refs

"Refs killed the Bears drive just now with this ridiculous holding call on Darnell Wright," one claimed.

"Yeah investigate the (expletive) out of this crew," another demanded.

"Refs just decided to ruin a drive based on this, crazy," another rued.

Two downs later, quarterback Caleb Williams was called for intentional grounding, costing the Bears another ten yards. He recouped some of the loss with a 12-yard pass to Olamide Zacchaeus, but Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal attempt to end the drive.

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Assessing Bears' MNF loss to Vikings to begin Ben Johnson era

When the Bears hired Ben Johnson, he was being hailed as the offensive genius who would revitalize Caleb Williams’ career and help save the franchise. Judging by this game, however, he appears to have fallen to the same trend as his predecessors.

Failing to adapt and create unique opportunities that the defense would see coming led to many punts for Tory Taylor again, the last of which was deflected for a measly 25-yard landing and resulted in the go-ahead touchdown.

The defense had been performing very well in protecting the lead, but a failure by the offense to generate more points meant that they had to take the field more frequently. The result was exhaustion, and it showed in the Vikings’ final drive. They did force another punt, but the offense failed once again.

The next game is a poetic one, as Johnson returns to Detroit. Without him, the Lions had a bad start, losing at the Green Bay Packers. However, they still have a strong roster under head coach Dan Campbell, who is eager to prove that he can win without his former OC.