We might have the admit the Vikings are good and Kevin O'Connell is a great head coach. Thankfully, we can also admit that the Bears are horrific. Let's focus more on them. 

Bears

The Bears fell to the Colts, 21-16. 

Game Notes

• It was inevitable that a coach on the Shanahan/McVay tree would be more meh than McVay. You can only have so many LaFleurs and O'Connells and Slowiks before you get a Shane Waldron. It also feels inevitable that the Bears, fresh off lucking into the supposed best QB prospect in a generation, would be the team to give him the reins. Sure, he was calling the offense in Seattle and that offense was a good at times but after Andy Dalton became the first QB to throw for 300 yards and three TDs in a game this season it's looking more like maybe Dave Canales was the reason for those good offenses. The horrificness of Waldron's play calling and the Bears lack of preparation in offense was such that hardly anyone is talking about the fact that Caleb Williams had another bad game. 
• Williams was 33/52 for 363 yards, two TDs and two picks against the most predictable defense in the league - a defense that Malik Willis had a 126.8 QB rating against one week ago despite only having been on the team for two weeks. Of course, the fact that Williams had to throw the ball 52 times was thanks to Waldron but we still haven't seen enough of the world changing ability that sprung Williams into the first overall pick.
• Remember when the Bears made the first move of free agency to overpay D'Andre Swift this off-season? If you don't you haven't been reading this column because I've brought it up about 57 times. Anyway, Swift had 13 carries for 20 yards in this game and none of those carries was successful. It was about as bad of a performance running the ball as you could possibly have. Even worse than your thinking because the Colts probably have the worst run defense in the league. Remember, Josh Jacobs piled up 150+ yards against them last week. 
• It's classic Bears organizational ineptitude. We haven't even talked about the receivers yet. 57-year-old Keenan Allen is already hurt. DJ Moore is getting visibly angry several times per game. And Rome Odunze's dad is posting videos of him not getting the ball. They could've spent the off-season building up the offensive line and hiring an offensive coordinator with a history of uplifting QBs and they went for flash instead. If Caleb Williams fails it will probably be the Bears' fault.   
• The defense was fine. All the Colts want to do is run the ball and the Bears let them do it to the tune of 150 yards at 4.5 yards per clip. Anthony Richardson had a bad game but it looks like he's going to have a lot of those. 
• Former Badgers TJ Edwards and Jack Sanborn both had two tackles. 

Vikings

The Vikings throttled the Texans 34-7. 

Game Notes

• Let's get it over with. 
• Darnold had another pretty good game. 17/28 for 181 yards isn't amazing but add four touchdowns and it'll get the job done. 
• Aaron Jones had a killer day with 102 yards on the ground and 46 through the air but the big story of the game, again, was the defense.
• Flores spent the entire off-season cooking up new insane ways to disguise what his defense is doing. They went from running the most cover-0 last year to the most quarters this year and they'll go to quarters from having seven guys on the line of scrimmage. This defense confused the Texans so much that Stefon Diggs had yo start an impromptu players' only meeting on the sidelines during the game. Stefon Diggs players only meeting is a phrase that would make any Texans fan crap their pants. 
• It's not just the scheme either. Free agent signing Jonathan Greenard had three sacks in this one in a revenge game. Harrison Smith is playing well and he's three years older than Keenan Allen (can you imagine??). Former Badger Andrew Van Ginkel had another sack - he's had a sack in every game this season despite dropping into coverage on close to half the plays that he's in the game.
• For how depressing it must be to be a Bears fan right now, it must be equally exciting to be a Vikings fan. I'm not super confident that this defense is the best one to bring Jordan Love back against. 

Lions

The Lions held on for a 20-13 victory over the Cardinals. 

Game Notes

• Lions fans are starting to get nervous about Jared Goff. And why not they might have just paid the fifth best QB in the division $50mm per year. Goff had another interception in this game but generally looked alright. 18/23 for 199 yards, two TDs and a pick and that doesn't count a pick-6 that was erroneously called back by horrendous officiating. Goff has always been bad when pressured and the Lions o-line isn't holding up in pass pro like it did the past few years. Add to that Center Frank Ragnow's partially torn pec and this could get ugly.
• Of course, there's always yards in the banana stand... err run game. The Lions had 187 total rush yards in this game and both RBs played well. If Ragnow and tight end Sam LaPorta (who hurt his ankle) miss time or are hobbled for a while, that could significantly affect the run game which would, in turn, likely significantly affect Jared Goff.
• The defense actually looked pretty good again. The Cardinals offense and Kyler Murray were one of the more fun surprises to start the year and they couldn't really get it going in this one.
• Rookie Terrion Arnold went toe to toe with MHJ and gave up 5 catches for 64 yards and a TD on 11 targets. Arnold has played well but he may have to start practicing with boxing gloves on.
• Aidan Hutchinson added another sack to his DPOY campaign but the team likely lost Marcus Davenport for the season.