Will D.J Moore be fit to face the Detroit Lions after injury against Minnesota Vikings?

The Chicago Bears might just be the unluckiest franchise in the NFL.

After dominating the Minnesota Vikings for much of the game, the Bears managed to lose their Monday Night Football opener, despite having a 19-6 entering the fourth quarter.

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Chicago Bears

Opening six games

Week 1 – v Minnesota Vikings L24-27

Week 2 – @ Detroit Lions

Week 3 – v Dallas Cowboys

Week 4 – @ Las Vegas Raiders

Week 5 – BYE

Week 6 – @ Washington Commanders

It all unravelled down the stretch for Caleb Williams and co after debutant JJ McCarthy rallied his team and pulled off a stunning 27-24 comeback.

Now, the Bears have to contend with the potential loss of wide receiver DJ Moore after he suffered a brutal hit late in the fourth quarter.

Williams was desperately trying to drive his team down the field to give the Bears a shot a reclaiming their lead with just 2:12 minutes left in the contest.

Down 27-17 and needing to find a touchdown with the line of scrimmage at the 29-yard line, Williams fired a ball down the middle of the field to Moore, who was subsequently sandwiched by two Vikings defenders.

Leaving him stricken lying flat on the floor, the 28-year-old receiver did get up under his own power, but had to be helped off the field by athletic training staff.

Following his brief exit from the game, the Bears were able to notch a score as the very same play yielded a roughing the passer penalty on Williams, handing the Bears 15 yards and a first down.

After the quarterback rushed for 13 yards to take the ball to within one yard of the endzone, Williams then found receiver Rome Odunze for the touchdown bringing Chicago to within three points of Minnesota.

Unfortunately, time ran out for the Bears, and they were unable to pull off a miraculous comeback of their own, which sees first-year head coach Ben Johnson start his career 0-1.

How serious is Moore’s injury and how much time could he miss?

Although they lost the contest, the Bears organization and the fans will be more concern by Moore’s injury status going forward, with another huge divisional matchup, this time against Johnson’s former team the Detroit Lions, awaiting them in Week 2.

The wideout finished with three receptions from five targets for a game-high 68 receiving yards. He also rushed for an additional eight yards from three carries.

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Moore may have been on the end of a ‘hospital ball’, but all signs point to it just being a stinger for him as he returned to the field again a few plays later in the Bears’ final drive of the game.

There he was credited for the fumbling of the football on the stat sheet, though the Bears had no choice but to resort to laterals on that final play of the contest.

As he returned to the gridiron, the expectation is that Moore will be fit to play in Week 2, and is likely to be heavily involved in such a huge rivalry matchup.

The Bears have also yet to make any official announcement over Moore’s current injury status.

Johnson disappointed with how many mistakes were made

At many points throughout the game, it looked as though Johnson would come away from his NFL head-coaching debut with a win to his name.

Having largely dominated the contest on both sides of the ball, with the Vikings’ offense particularly struggling to get moving down the field, Chicago’s offense went completely downhill in the final period of play, much to Johnson’s dismay.

 “It is a disappointing way to start the season there for us,” he said after the game.

“We said going into Week 1 that the team that would make the least number of mistakes would win the game and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the that

“We made too many there late in the game, myself included. There were a number of things that I could have done better, a number of things that a number of guys could have done better.”

But Johnson credited his team’s defensive efforts, led by Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, whose play calls from man to zone coverage were so well disguised early on in the contest that it even had two-time Super Bowl champion and all-time great quarterback Peyton Manning left confused.

“I played 18 years, I thought it was man, they confused me,” Manning said on the ESPN broadcast. “I can promise you J.J. McCarthy thought it was man.”

The Bears were without starting cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, as well as linebacker T.J. Edwards.

Nonetheless, they still only allowed just 150 total yards through the first three quarters, something Johnson credited, before NFL debutant McCarthy completely flipped the script on a poor start of his own and recorded 101 total yards and three total touchdowns in the final 15 minutes.

“The defense did a really good job until the very end,” Johnson said. “That fourth quarter, things got away from us a little bit. But up until then they kept us in that ballgame.”

“The guys did play hard. They played with great intensity, great effort, and I hate to see that they didn’t come with a ‘W’ there at the end.”

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