The Chicago Bears are working through another quick turnaround this week, preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night. Coming off three consecutive blowout losses, the Bears will need to be much sharper in their home finale to prevent their losing streak from reaching 10. That would match the franchise record for the longest skid within a single season.
The Bears held a walkthrough and meetings on Christmas Eve at Halas Hall. Here are four things we’ve learned since Sunday’s 34-17 loss to the Detroit Lions.
1. Caleb Williams would like to finish his rookie season off strong.
Williams was asked Monday to identify a few things he hoped to accomplish in the final two games of the season and quickly pointed to ball security as a top priority. Williams was charged with the first-quarter fumble Sunday that resulted from a clunky jet sweep exchange between him and receiver Rome Odunze.
Six nights earlier in Minnesota, Williams lost a fumble after taking a blindside hit from Vikings outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard.
“Turnovers are obviously a part of the game,” he said. “But trying to eliminate those only helps our chances of winning.”
Williams also emphasized his desire to be more efficient with managing the play clock and staying sharp with his pre-snap alerts and cadence over the final two games.
The rookie quarterback recorded his fourth 300-yard passing outing of the season Sunday, throwing two more touchdown passes and increasing his franchise-record streak without an interception to 326 pass attempts.
Perhaps Williams’ most impressive completion of the game was a 30-yard deep shot to Odunze to convert fourth-and-1 in the third quarter. With an empty backfield, Williams had Odunze in single coverage against Lions cornerback Amik Robertson and attacked the matchup with a ball that allowed Odunze to use his contested-catch ability.
“Anytime we get a chance to have a one-on-one with Rome, I have full belief that at the least it’s going to be an incompletion,” Williams said. “I have all belief and faith in him every single time that ball goes up in the air.”
As impractical as the deep shot on fourth-and-short may have felt, interim coach Thomas Brown felt the Bears created a favorable matchup that Williams capitalized on.
“That was an opportunity,” Brown said. “(We) obviously had that up in the game plan, particularly with it being kind of a man-to-man scenario. We’re putting guys in the right spots to be able to win.”
2. The Bears matched a season-high with 10 penalties in Sunday’s loss to the Lions.
Seven of those fouls were committed by the offense, including four false starts and two holding penalties. Tack on two lost fumbles and it’s easy to understand why the Bears once again started slowly and staggered through another miserable first half. The Bears haven’t led in the first half in their past four losses.
Still, perhaps the day’s most baffling penalty came in the second quarter when rookie defensive end Austin Booker was baited by the Lions to jump into the neutral zone as Detroit bluffed going for it on fourth-and-1 from the Bears 25 with the clock ticking down to the 2-minute warning.
At a minimum, had the Lions chosen to go for it there, they almost certainly would have run their play after the 2-minute warning. But as Jared Goff gesticulated and sent receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in motion, Booker and fellow defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker jumped across the line, giving the Lions a free first down. They quickly capitalized, needing only three more plays to finish a touchdown drive that gave them a 27-7 lead.
Bears interim coach Thomas Brown was direct Monday in chastising the defense’s lack of situational awareness and discipline at that moment.
“To me,” Brown said, “it just boils down to a lack of concentration. I think it’s very simple. I’m not going to overcomplicate it or put some confusing phrase towards it. It’s about being locked in and being detailed. And like I said, emotions are great in the game. But if they’re not controlled they become an issue. So that to me was more about an overall lack of focus.”
3. The Bears defense continues its stunning slide down the stretch of a lost season.
The defense had an impressive finish to 2023, allowing fewer than 21 points in seven of their final eight games while also recording 16 interceptions and three fumble recoveries during that stretch. The start to the 2024 season was equally encouraging with the Bears allowing an average of 16.8 points per game and creating 13 turnovers during a 4-2 start. But the falloff on that side of the ball has been undeniable over the past two months, particularly over the past five losses in the team’s ongoing nine-game skid.
Over the past five games, the Bears are allowing an average of 423 yards and 31 points per game and have failed to create multiple takeaways in all of those contests.
For the season, the Bears are tied for 19th in the league with 34 sacks. But fewer than half of those (16) have come during the current nine-game losing streak. So what would constitute an encouraging finish to this season?
“I want us to not have self-inflicted (errors),” defensive coordinator Eric Washington said Tuesday. “I want us to limit the points (allowed) and to give ourselves a chance to win the football game in the fourth quarter or to provide the kind of explosive plays that will make the game lopsided in our favor. … Teams are going to make plays. This is the National Football League. But we can’t yield 25 or 30 points per game and expect to win.”
4. The Bears have health issues to manage on another short week.
With Braxton Jones now on injured reserve with a season-ending leg injury and Teven Jenkins still battling a calf issue, the left side of the offensive line remains in flux this week. Rookie Kiran Amegadjie could make his second start on Thursday night unless the Bears opt to use veteran Larry Borom instead. Jake Curhan, meanwhile, might be the “next man up” if Jenkins can’t play.
The Bears did not hold a true practice Tuesday so their official injury report was an estimation. Jenkins, Elijah Hicks (foot/ankle), Travis Homer (hamstring) and Tarvarius Moore (knee) were all listed as non-participants. Gervon Dexter (knee), Doug Kramer (shoulder) and Amen Ogbongbemiga (hip) were designated as limited.
