The Chicago Bears are across the pond, preparing for Sunday’s game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Coming off a pair of home wins, the Bears packed good vibes for their trip to London. But plenty of questions remain, and the Tribune’s Brad Biggs addresses some in his weekly Bears mailbag.
What is the biggest takeaway for Caleb Williams now that he’s thrown for more than 300 yards in two of five games? — Jason K., Northbrook
There are a handful of takeaways for Williams, whose passer rating has improved in each game since Week 2. He looks more comfortable operating at the line of scrimmage and in presnap communication. He made really nice throws to all three levels of the field in Sunday’s 36-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers, from deep shots to DJ Moore and Cole Kmet to well-timed touch throws on screen passes to D’Andre Swift and Gerald Everett. He played turnover-free again, and while some have wondered if he’s being coached not to be aggressive, I don’t see that.
The biggest thing at this juncture is Williams seems aware he needs to settle in as a pocket quarterback. To play the position at a high level in the NFL, he has to be super efficient from the pocket, so we’re seeing him hang in there in instances when I bet at USC he would have escaped the pocket and looked to create second-reaction plays. It’s striking a balance between knowing when to do that and when to stay within the structure of the play. He has gotten so much better at this from the start of training camp that it’s a real positive.
Williams still is going to create special plays outside the pocket, and that’s one of the things that sets him apart. But he seems really mindful of needing to stay within structure and he should continue to grow there. It might not look better every week — especially when the Bears tangle with better defenses — but it’s a work in progress where you can see valuable growth with experience.
Tracking Caleb Williams: How the Chicago Bears QB is performing in his rookie season
Given their struggles in short-yardage situations, why are the Bears unwilling to run a simple QB sneak? — @carpecanus
Fair question and I’m sure it’s a wrinkle we will see at some point. Just understand that any time the quarterback runs in short-yardage situations, he’s exposed to hits and a potential injury. The last thing the Bears want is Caleb Williams getting dinged trying to sneak for a yard. I remember a 2002 game at Carolina in which Bears quarterback Chris Chandler suffered a concussion on a sneak. Yes, Williams is a lot more athletic than Chandler was, but in a mass of linemen on a sneak, the quarterback is exposed.
The Bears haven’t been great in short yardage, and as everyone reading knows, they’ve had issues to sort through on the offensive line. They’re 2 of 5 when running on third-and-1, 3 of 5 when running on fourth-and-1 and 2 for 2 when running on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
Roschon Johnson scored on second-and-goal from the 1 and first-and-goal from the 1 in the victory over the Panthers, and D’Andre Swift had a touchdown on second-and-goal from the 1. We’ve seen them mix up personnel in short-yardage situations, using reserve center Doug Kramer as a fullback in the last two games. They also brought in rookie offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie in a goal-line situation versus the Panthers.
But it’s an area the team surely wants to improve. Johnson was stacked up for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the Carolina 39-yard line in the second quarter.
What’s next? Williams could be involved in the running game with a sneak or a keeper where he goes around the edge after a fake handoff. We could see some play-action passing. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has a ton of possibilities, but sneaking Williams is probably not an option unless we’re talking about a spot where the team needs a foot. I don’t think the Bears are outfitted up front to start their version of the Tush Push. Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong about that.
Is Caleb Williams really getting more on his plate than the other rookie QBs, including Jayden Daniels? When they go hurry up, no huddle or mug huddle, does more decision making really fall on him? — @tiredsab1
This is similar to what another reader asked, wondering if Williams has more freedom from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron when the offense doesn’t huddle. Here’s what I can say: The Bears are asking Williams to do a lot as a rookie in terms of helping set the protections up front with the amount of presnap motion and variance in formations they are using. They have treated him like someone with more than five games of NFL experience.
Are they putting more on his plate than Daniels? That’s difficult for me to answer, but I would say the offense Williams is running is more pro-specific than what the Commanders are doing with the No. 2 pick. Let’s be honest, Daniels has played really well for a Washington team that’s one of the early surprises with a 4-1 record and an NFL-best 31 points per game.
You can hear on the television broadcasts how involved Williams is at the line of scrimmage before the snap. It’s not like the team is defining everything for him and it’s just snap and go. When the Bears go no-huddle it’s to establish tempo, and Williams wears a wristband with play calls for a reason. He’s still running the play Waldron calls. It’s not like he’s out there like Peyton Manning, just wheeling and dealing on his own.
It will be fun to watch Williams develop through the rest of the season and the next couple of years as he gains total mastery of the system.
What happens when Ryan Bates gets back? Do they make any changes? The line has been playing better the last two weeks. — @noflyzone_1
That’s a good question. The Bears have at least one more game and potentially two before they need to mull a potential change. The hope since placing Bates on injured reserve after the Week 1 win over the Tennessee Titans was that he would be ready to return to practice coming out of the bye week.
Given that Bates missed a good deal of practice in the two weeks leading up to the season and has been on IR for four weeks now, it’s fair to speculate he would need at least two weeks of practice to get rolling, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility the Bears would want to use the entire 21-day window to ramp him up.
Bates has an arthritic issue that has affected his shoulder and elbow, and instead of having him attempt to manage it through the early portion of the season, the Bears opted to shelve him for a while with the idea he’d be able to get it under control and be available uninterrupted upon his return.
So what will the Bears do? They could go in a number of directions. Entering training camp, the plan was for Bates to compete with Coleman Shelton for the starting center job. When Nate Davis missed a big chunk of camp with a groin injury, Bates started manning right guard, and had he not been injured himself, my hunch is he would have been the unquestioned starting right guard.
There are other moving parts that will affect what the team does. That starts with left guard Teven Jenkins, who left the win over the Panthers with an ankle injury and was dealing with a bruised rib entering the game. Bill Murray, who leapfrogged Davis as the first option off the bench, played pretty well in Jenkins’ place.
Do the coaches have enough faith in Murray to keep him in the lineup when everyone is healthy? If so, perhaps Murray supplants Matt Pryor, who has been starting at right guard, and then the team can make a call at center between Bates and Shelton.
The Panthers are deficient on the defensive line and at linebacker, so a stout performance against them is good but this wasn’t the Titans or Houston Texans. The Bears obviously like Bates. They attempted to sign him as a restricted free agent two years ago and traded a fifth-round pick for him in March. That leads me to believe that when Bates is healthy — the biggest issue for him right now — he will factor into the starting five somewhere.
I don’t think it’s a big deal if the Bears swap out centers, but they do want to avoid a revolving door there for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. The Jaguars defensive front has not played well this season, but the Bears should get a decent test coming out of the bye at Washington.
It’s still a few weeks from a decision point because, like I said, Bates probably will need a good stretch of healthy practices to reach a point where he’s game-ready.
Now that he’s been inactive for five games any idea what the thought process was in not placing Zacch Pickens on IR at the start of the season? Another case of misdiagnosing an injury or wishful thinking he’d be back sooner rather than later? — Marc P., Crown Point, Ind.
Good question, though Pickens has been inactive for only four games. I actually got a couple of questions about him this week, and I think there’s a chance he will pleasantly surprise people later this season.
Pickens was slowed in training camp with a groin injury that forced him to miss the season opener. He played in Week 2 in Houston, aggravated the injury and has been inactive since. I don’t think they misdiagnosed the injury, and my hunch is Pickens will return to the practice field after the bye that follows Sunday’s game in London. He didn’t travel with the team to London but figures to be at Halas Hall regularly as he continues to rehab.
Teams can designate a maximum of eight players to return from IR during the regular season, and if the Bears viewed Pickens’ injury as one that would sideline him for about four weeks, give or take a week, it probably made sense to keep him on the active 53-man roster because they don’t have a pressing need for a body right now.
You have to evaluate the situation and determine who would take Pickens’ spot on the roster if he was on IR, then take it a step further and determine if that player actually would be used in a game. If the answer to the final part is probably not, it doesn’t make sense to extinguish one of the designated-to-return slots, which the Bears ran short on in early December a year ago.
The Bears added depth to the interior when they promoted tackle Byron Cowart from the practice squad Saturday. He took the roster spot of tight end Stephen Carlson, who was transferred to IR with a broken collarbone.
One other point I would make about Pickens: He looks different this year. Much has been made about how Gervon Dexter has reshaped his body. Pickens did a lot of work this offseason to trim up, get stronger and quicker. He played at 312 pounds last season and is about 298 now and believes he can be more athletic and disruptive. The Bears are optimistic he can contribute in the line rotation when he’s healthy. Barring a setback, I’d guess he’s ready to roll shortly after the bye week.
Is the contribution (or lack of) from Gerald Everett worth cutting several promising young tight end candidates? — Gerry B.
“Several” might be stretching it. The Bears waived Brenden Bates, an undrafted rookie from Kentucky, and the New York Jets claimed him. He was the one that got away at final cuts, and the Bears figured there was a shot someone would scoop him up. They wanted to re-sign him to the practice squad and had loosely mentioned the possibility of promoting him to the 53-man roster before too long.
Let’s not overstate things, though. The Jets have used Bates minimally, with 26 snaps on offense and 15 on special teams. He has a chance to have a nice NFL career and projects as a prototypical Y tight end — an in-line blocker with the ability to produce a little in the passing game.
So a comparison with Everett isn’t exactly apples to apples because Everett is more of a move tight end and a more skilled receiver. The Bears got Everett going a little in Sunday’s win over the Panthers with 22 yards on two catches, one a 17-yard gain on a screen.
Remember, Everett played previously for offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, so that was a key factor in the decision to sign him in free agency. There was concern — rightly so — after Everett was on the field more than Cole Kmet in the Week 1 win over the Titans, and the coaching staff quickly corrected that mistake.
Maybe the Bears will come to rue the day they cut Bates, but as teams get better and rosters get stronger, they have to part with talented young players who can get a foothold in the league and develop. I don’t envision Everett being a main cog in the offense, but he can do a lot of things with his experience. He can block coming out of the backfield and his experience in the scheme was a consideration.
What’s up with the run defense? Have the Bears regressed due to losing players or are they not executing properly or is it something else? They had one of the best run Ds at the end of last year. — @quackinator100
The Bears led the league in run defense last season, when they allowed 86.4 yards per game. They’ve dipped a bit this season — they sit 18th at 120.8 yards per game — and it has to be something they’re looking at. Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard hit them for 54 yards on four carries in the first quarter Sunday, including a 38-yard touchdown.
“That’s just being where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there,” Matt Eberflus said. “That’s what it was. Some guys got cut out on the backside. It wasn’t misfit in any way. Just got to do a better job of paying technique.”
The good news is the Bears quickly shored things up and Hubbard totaled only 43 yards on 15 attempts the rest of the game.
What jumps out is the Bears have given up 19 rushes of 10 or more yards through five games. Two were quarterback scrambles by Will Levis and Anthony Richardson, but that is too many explosive runs and why the ranking is in the middle of the pack. A couple of bad plays each game have resulted in big gains. In comparison, the defense allowed 46 runs of 10 or more yards all last season. At the current pace the Bears would allow 65, and that’s too many.
As I have written previously, the biggest shift from last season is the Bears no longer have Justin Jones in the trenches. He was used as a three-technique, but when Jones was on the field with Andrew Billings, the Bears effectively had two nose guards. There’s a trade-off to improving the pass rush and we’re seeing that. The run defense has had some cracks in every game. Something to keep an eye on? Yes. Something to worry about? I don’t think so.
How did Bill Murray look? Who do you see as the starting guards moving forward? — @mosconml
I thought Murray played pretty well when summoned to replace Teven Jenkins late in the second quarter after an ankle injury sidelined him. Murray is physical and plays with a little edge, which isn’t surprising given his background as a defensive tackle. He caught the coaches’ attention during training camp and clearly was practicing well to jump ahead of Nate Davis on the depth chart. We’re looking at a small sample size as Murray had 37 snaps against a subpar defensive line and linebacker group.
How does it shake out moving forward? We have to wait until everyone is healthy to get an answer. You’d certainly figure Jenkins will be on the field when he’s cleared and ready, but he needs to stay on the field. It seems like he gets sidelined more than any regular starting offensive lineman I’ve seen in a very long time. Ryan Bates could figure into the equation at some point, as I detailed above.
If Murray gets more opportunities this week against the Jaguars — I wouldn’t rule it out — perhaps he’s in the conversation if the coaches become more comfortable with his performance. It would be a wonderful problem to have if the Bears get healthy and feel like they have multiple quality options. Imagine that.
I think the offensive line played better Weeks 4 and 5 than it did in the first three weeks. Do you agree? If so, what, if anything, changed? Who lines up for Week 6 and does the improved play continue? — @mmesq11
You’re not imagining it. That happened. The biggest change was the Bears played the Rams and the Panthers the last two weeks, and both of those defenses are having a tough time up front. The Rams are tied for 25th in the league with nine sacks, and the Panthers are tied for 29th with six. The Rams are last in the league in run defense, allowing 157.6 yards per game, and the Panthers are No. 27 at 144.6.
Any objective analysis needs to consider the opponent, and that’s far and away the biggest factor in the previous two games. The Jaguars come in with the No. 8 run defense this week but are 32nd versus the pass and don’t get consistent pressure on quarterbacks, who have combined for a 111.7 passer rating against them.
Time on task no doubt has helped the Bears, and maybe they’re a little more comfortable playing next to each other. They were missing chemistry in the first few games and it was really evident in some of the missed combination blocks. So I think they’ve improved, too, but to get a better picture of where they are, we need to see them versus a better defensive front. That’s the only fair way to assess this.
What’s the situation with Tyler Scott? He seems to be absolutely forgotten. — @gongimenez
I try to avoid answering questions with questions, but who do you want to see on the sideline so Scott gets more action? You can’t do one without the other, and I promise you if Scott began getting 20 snaps a game, resulting in reduced snaps for DJ Moore, Rome Odunze or Keenan Allen, there would be an avalanche of questions from the other direction.
Scott got three snaps against the Panthers and has had a total of 10 over the last four games. He has not played on special teams. Moore, Odunze and Allen combined for 20 targets among Caleb Williams’ 29 pass attempts against the Panthers. There just isn’t a lot of space for a fourth wide receiver to get action with two highly paid veterans and a first-round draft pick in front of him. Add a capable room of tight ends, and it’s hard to imagine Scott getting a ton of playing time.
This is still an important season for him. Allen is in the final year of his contract. For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume he’s elsewhere next season. There’s a hole open that Scott can fill. If he goes about his business the right way and shows growth on the practice field, he could be positioned to compete for and win that No. 3 spot in 2025.
I don’t see the Bears cutting into playing time for the top three right now, but you have to imagine one of them misses time at some point this season with an injury. That would be a spot for Scott to step in and produce, provided he’s ahead of DeAndre Carter at that point.
For the London game against Jacksonville, the Bears are designated as the home team. Will the result — win or lose — impact their current eight-game home winning streak? — Pat R., Chicago
You can spin that whichever way you want — win or lose. To me what’s significant is the winning streak at Soldier Field, so the next time the Bears play there — Nov. 10 against the New England Patriots — they will have an active eight-game streak in the building on the line.
I’d choose to think a neutral-site game does not affect this streak, but that’s your choice. What is on the line this week is an active 11-game streak of holding opponents to 21 points or fewer.
