Heading into the final weekend of September, the Chicago Bears rank 22nd in the NFL in scoring. And that’s with the two return touchdowns they got in Week 1 from their defense and special teams units.
Offensively, the Bears have had 35 possessions this season but managed just three touchdowns and 38 points. The running game has been nonexistent. The passing attack has been inconsistent. And the team’s five turnovers the last two weeks have contributed to the losing formula.
On the bright side, two of the touchdowns came courtesy of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams during the fourth quarter Sunday in Indianapolis with the offense seeming to discover more flow than it had in the first two games.
The Bears’ seven passing plays of 15 yards or more against the Colts were more than double the combined total (three) they had in games against the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans.
Perhaps a notable production jump is nearing? Maybe a get-well performance this weekend against a vulnerable Los Angeles Rams defense can put the Bears back on the winning track and, by extension, back in a better mood?
Williams certainly spoke with optimism Wednesday about the offense’s efforts to get rolling. “We’re constantly getting better,” he said.
To set the stage for this weekend’s game, here’s our latest submission to The Caleb Williams File.
The buzz
Coming out of Sunday’s loss, Williams expressed the need for “constant communication” as the offense tries to find its groove and forge an identity before the season gets too far along.
On Wednesday, the rookie quarterback was assertive in defining his role in that process.
“It starts with me,” he said.
In a nutshell, Williams is vowing to be more communicative, first with the coaching staff but then also with his teammates as the offense works to identify what it does best. That’s on the sideline during games. But, more importantly, it’s during the week at Halas Hall. On the practice field. In meetings. During one-on-one conversations.
It’s about ironing out the details within whatever the Bears are trying to run. But it’s also about agreeing upon concepts and plays that fit the players best.
“(It’s making sure) we communicate that and making sure we are running things we are all comfortable with,” Williams said, “running things that are good plays, that work well against the other team, but more importantly things that we know and feel comfy running.”
Star “comfort” and “communication” as two things the offense has on its priority list for Week 4, with Williams promising to go “more in depth” with coordinator Shane Waldron in voicing his preferences — or pushback — with the hope of agreeing on plays Williams feels confident about rather than uncertain.
Said Williams: “To go out there and make decisions in split seconds, hesitation and not being decisive leads into not being comfy. For certain plays or with certain routes, I think that’s the biggest thing. So me being able to communicate with him is important. I understand that. And I have to do it consistently.”
Williams and the Bears put plenty of positive flashes on tape in the loss in Indianapolis with the rookie throwing for 363 yards and two touchdowns. Count tight end Cole Kmet among those confident Williams has taken big strides forward this month, particularly with how he played against the Colts.
“You could see him getting in the flow of things better,” Kmet said. “Anybody who watches the tape can really see him trying to progress through his reads and trying to see things clearly. And I think he’s been picking up his processing speed from game to game. That’s always really encouraging to see.
“When he gets comfortable and gets rolling there, you can see that confidence pick up.”
Spotlight play
Immediately after Sunday’s loss, Williams had a valid defense for the second of his two interceptions — a third-quarter shot up the left sideline to Rome Odunze. Noticing that Colts safety Nick Cross had turned his back in coverage, Williams was aiming to give one of his go-to guys a chance to make a contested catch. And he delivered a pretty decent ball too. But Cross found a way to disrupt Odunze at the catch point, and the football caromed toward recovering cornerback Jaylon Jones, who made a brilliant interception.
Eberflus, while appreciating Williams’ aggressiveness, also issued a reminder on the importance of ball security. “(Rome) was open,” Eberflus acknowledged. “But again, those windows close in the NFL.”
Eberflus would have preferred that Williams a) had noticed the Colts shifting their coverage to that side of the field; and b) would have opted to drop a safer checkdown pass to running back D’Andre Swift in the flat.
“He has to have some wisdom there and discernment in terms of when he needs to make that throw,” Eberflus said. “You never want to take away his aggressiveness. But he has to be really good with (taking care of) the football. That’s his No. 1 job as a quarterback.”
That’s always a difficult balancing act for a young quarterback. And for a rookie like Williams with such special playmaking gifts, Eberflus and his staff will be challenged all season to teach him the wisdom within the NFL game while also not reducing Williams’ willingness to take calculated risks on a regular basis.
“It’s all based on play design,” Eberflus said. “Play design and the coverage contour in terms of what they’re in (defensively) tells you where you should be going with the football. We’ve just got to do a good job with that throughout the entire game.”
That’s something to keep an eye on Sunday against a Rams defense that will give Williams some pretty intriguing windows of opportunity.
Up next
It’s still early in the season. But no team has allowed more total yards than the 1,277 the Rams have surrendered through three games. With a 3-4 defense run by first-time coordinator Chris Shula, the Rams also are allowing a league-worst 6.8 yards per play and are tied for 28th in sacks with four.
Still, Eberflus noted he has been struck by the talent the Rams have on the edges with pass rushers Jared Verse and Byron Young. Verse was a prospect the Bears had high on their predraft radar this spring, a player with impressive strength and burst and a natural feel for finding quarterbacks.
Eberflus also enjoyed the time he spent with Verse during the rookie’s predraft visit to Halas Hall.
“I really like the man,” Eberflus said. “You could tell he’s going to be a good pro and going to have a long career in the NFL. He will be a leader of that group and of his football team.”
Verse’s skill set will present a significant challenge for the Bears offensive tackles, particularly if right tackle Darnell Wright remains hindered by his back injury. Also keep an eye on fellow rookie Braden Fiske on the Rams’ defensive interior.
Still, if Williams is protected well and the Bears can consistently create a clean pocket, they should have opportunities to hunt chunk plays.
The Rams have allowed a 100-yard pass catcher in each of their three games, with the San Francisco 49ers’ Jauan Jennings exploding for 11 catches, 175 yards and three touchdowns Sunday. Marvin Harrison Jr. of the Arizona Cardinals (4-130-2 in Week 2) and Jameson Williams of the Detroit Lions (5-121-1 in Week 1) also had big games.
Receiver DJ Moore admitted he took note of those performances but also took them with a grain of salt.
“It does (catch your eye),” Moore said. “But then it’s always the case when your team goes out there and they become the Monstars and it’s like, ‘It didn’t look the exact same on film.’ ”
The big number: 363
Williams’ passing yards in Indianapolis set a Bears rookie record, breaking the previous mark of 314 set by Mitch Trubisky in Week 15 of 2017. The Bears also lost that game with Trubisky completing 31 of 46 passes with one touchdown and three interceptions.
Williams’ production Sunday came with the Bears calling 61 passing plays. Williams completed 33 of his 52 throws and threw a pair of touchdown passes plus two interceptions. He also was sacked four times, scrambled for 8 yards on another play, helped the Bears net 26 yards with two Colts pass-interference penalties and picked up another 15 penalty yards when linebacker E.J. Speed was called for roughing the passer on a Williams incompletion. (Williams also had a nifty, on-the-move, 17-yard completion to Moore negated by a Braxton Jones holding penalty.)
Final word
While it has been well documented that Williams has modeled his game after four-time league MVP Aaron Rodgers, the Bears quarterback also has long admired Matthew Stafford, his counterpart for Sunday’s game. Williams traces his introduction to Stafford’s talents back to his childhood enjoyment for the playmaking brilliance of Lions star receiver Calvin Johnson.
“It really started watching Megatron, getting triple-covered and stuff like that,” Williams noted Wednesday. “Then I got a little older and kind of realized how good Matthew Stafford is at his job.”
Specifically, Williams noted, he has been in awe of how Stafford “controls the game as a quarterback.”
“He knows how to get in and out of things efficiently,” Williams said. “He also knows where people are going to be. He knows where the defensive players are going to be and he can move them on a string.
“Watching him be able to move defenders and move and maneuver in the pocket but still deliver some nice passes down the field (is impressive). Or even just getting the ball to the back and allowing him to go to work. He’s keeping the ball in play.”
With 223 passing yards Sunday, Stafford will pass Eli Manning to break into the top 10 on the NFL’s all-time list. His 359 career touchdown passes also rank 11th all time.
Like Williams, Stafford was once the No. 1 pick in the draft. That was in 2009, when Williams was just a first-grader. After 12 seasons with the Lions — but only three playoff appearances — Stafford was traded to Los Angeles in 2021 and propelled the Rams to a championship in Super Bowl LVI in his first season there.
“Watching someone like that who has had the success he‘s had, you want to learn from that,” Williams said.
That class will again be in session at noon Sunday.
