Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Offense

• Another slow start as the Bears got very good field position off of a very good return, and the offense wasted it. False start penalty on DJ Moore and a drop on a screen pass on third down. They ran the ball once on second and 15 to get back to the original line of scrimmage. In suspended, they scored on their second possession. But this first one remains jinxed.
• The Bears did everything they could to make sure that the action was away from Myles Garrett’s side. Wise decision.
• Caleb Williams has a habit of releasing to the right and heading for the sideline, looking for a receiver on a cross to try to hit at the sideline. It worked early in the season, but it isn’t working anymore and hasn’t for some time. Cleveland had the receiver covered like a blanket. I think the Bears need a better solution there.
• Cleveland has a good defense, but if I’m a Browns fan, I’m not happy with the missed tackles that I saw today.
• You could really see the effect that the play action had on the Cleveland defense. The Bears panned on the ground, led them to sell out or the run — they had no choice — and it really opened the passing game at times.
• Speaking of accuracy, I thought Williams’ was a lot better today.
• On the other hand, I saw too much of Williams holding the ball and scrambling today. My guess is that he was passing too much the short outlet.
• Happy to see the Bears find Moore so much more often today.
• I thought that it was interesting that the Bears attacked Cleveland mostly to the outside in the run game. Apparently the combination of a stout interior defense and a perceived lack of Browns defensive speed led them to that conclusion.

Defense

• Sheduer Sanders’ helmet communication apparently went out on the first play of their second series, and he had to run to the sideline to get the play. It resulted in a delay of game. Surely there is a better solution than that. Don’t they drill that in training camp?
• The Bears rushed four most of the time today and struggled to get pressure as usual. But with Sanders holding the ball, there was still time to get to him.
• I thought that the rush was disciplined. It’s obvious that they were concentrating on keeping Sanders in the pocket. They did a good job.
• A better team would have had more explosive pass plays against the Bears today. WRs seemed to me to be popping open deep.
• I thought the run defense was excellent. On a day like this, that was important.

Miscellaneous

• Special teams got off to a good start with a good return to the Cleveland side of the 50 and then a punt downed at the 1-yard line. I’ve been very critical of the kick off return game so I’ll shut up. For a week , anyway.
• Not happy with the way that Ben Johnson handled the end of the first half. 3rd and 1 from well inside your own territory when you are running the ball well and you call for a pass downfield? I suppose you are a hero if it works. But they gave the ball back to Cleveland with good field position and a lot of clock left in the half. Fortunately, Cleveland wasted it.
• Lots of stops today. Presumably, the weather played a big role in that.
• Add D’Marco Jackson to the list of players who came through unlooked for in this magical year for the Bears. Not only did he walk on to the team and perform like he’d been there all year – while calling the plays – but the interception in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. Jaylon Johnson’s interception in the third quarter was also a big play at that point in the game. CJ Gardner-Johnson made a nice catch on his fourth quarter interception. The turnovers were a big difference in the game.

• I liked the confidence that the Bears played with today. Though it did burn them on occasion.

  For instance, there was a fourth and 3 early in the second half where Williams had an open receiver to his right for the first down but never looked at him as he presumably looked for a deeper shot. Williams apparently needs to be more patient there. And that touchdown pass to Moore in the third quarter? [head shake] My heavens. That is not the spot for a risk like that despite the fact that it worked out.

  And I wasn’t too pleased to see Sanders with so many open deep shots. His answer to the blitz was to heave it deep to a receiver who was being covered one-on-one. And it worked too often. It’s one thing to be beaten like that by Jordan Love, it’s another thing altogether when it’s Sanders. A less conservative plan could have been even more successful and would have made more sense this week.

  On the other hand, I loved the pass to Colston Loveland late in the first quarter on 3rd and 3. Williams had the pass in the air as Loveland came out of his break. That’s a perfect example of what they are trying to accomplish here with Williams. When everyone knows the offense like the back of their hand, when everyone is in the right place at the right time, and when Williams gets over his accuracy issues, we’ll see that all the time, and it could be very hard to stop.

  I’m a broken record, I know, but I think it’s really important to remember that, despite their record, the Bears aren’t there yet. But the future is bright. And that’s still the thing to continue to focus on.

Offense

• Williams had some inaccurate passes once again, especially early in the game. I really think that this may have to do with the fact that head coach Ben Johnson hired a first-time quarterback coach in J.T. Barrett. Williams needs someone to diagnose this problem and work with him on it. I’m thinking that he might not get that until the offseason.
• You knew that the Packers were going to throw tight man coverage at the Bears because they always do. They’re among the toughest in the league to execute against when they are on their game, and it gave the Bears a lot of trouble. It’s the kind of defense that you need explosive plays against, both in the run game and the pass game. The Bears didn’t have many.
• The Packers got a lot of pressure on Williams in passing situations. Some of it was from Michal Parsons, but a lot of it was on guys coming up the middle. Williams is poor statistically when pressured. Though, in fairness, some of that was just getting rid of the ball today.
• I think about halfway through the second quarter that Johnson remembered the game against the Eagles where he said after the game that he wished he’d called more runs. Because he started calling a lot more of them at about that point.
• The Bears really attacked the Packers inside on the run. It was a good plan. They have a lot of speed on defense and they were missing their best defensive tackle in Devonte Wyatt. The running game really got going late in the third quarter and it was critical to their success at that time in the game.
• The end around didn’t really work today. They take a long time to develop and I think the Packers were very ready for it.
• For whatever reason, I thought too many players like D’Andre Swift and Cole Kmet were going down without contact. That needs to get better.

Defense

• The Packers came out executing and you knew that the Bears once again were going to get their best.
• It looked like the Bears were trying to keep everything in front of them and were giving up the shorter passes. The Packers were executing well when they took what the Bears were giving them.
• No one can be surprised that the Bears blitzed a great deal of the time. They can’t get pressure otherwise, and getting pressure on Love was something they were going to have to do. He’s not great statistically when he’s pressured. The Packers generally did a good job of picking it up and Love did a good job today.
• The Packers did a great job of running play action against the Bears. They drew the linebackers and the buckle back up and then did a superb job of hitting the receiver behind them. It was Johnson’s dream on the other sideline, run just like it’s supposed to work.
• Time after time, the Packers targeted Kevin Byard and C.J. Gardner-Johnson in coverage. They must have spotted something that others have missed there.
• Jordan Love is playing with about as much confidence as I’ve ever seen him play with. He seemed to have an answer for everything the Bears threw at him today. Again, it helps that the Bears got very little pressure on him.
• I thought it was interesting that though T.J. Edward’s was back, they played him at weak side linebacker rather than at middle linebacker.
• Too often there was a Bears defender in place on the outside who was isolated on a receiver behind the line of scrimmage who missed the tackle. The Bears will undoubtedly be working on that this week.

Miscellaneous

• Tom Brady had some interesting tidbits about what it was like to play in cold-weather games today. Most of it was new to me. I’m surprised at how much I like Brady on the call. He warmed my rugby-loving heart when he mentioned the New Zealand All Blacks.
• Once again, I think that there’s no escaping the fact that the Bears are at a disadvantage when it comes to starting positions on kickoffs. Most kickers nowadays seem to have a knack for kicking the ball just short of the end zone, and the Bears usually end up at about the 20-yard line when the opponent executes it right.
• Suffice it to say that both teams had some dumb penalties, especially Green Bay. The Bears were mostly clean after the first quarter.
• It was very evident that the players were into this game on both sides. I’d say some of the rookies got a good feel for what this rivalry should be like. It was a tough, physical, chippy game, and though I deplore the penalties that sometimes resulted, I didn’t mind it otherwise.
• Both quarterbacks did a good job of throwing the ball away under pressure today. You don’t see as much of that in the NFL as you should.

• I’ve found myself all season making excuses for why the Bears were winning. They played an easy schedule and when they played a really good team (the Eagles) they didnt’ play well. Not today. The Packers are one of the best teams in the NFL, if not the best, and they played well. This showed me something.

  In many ways, this loss was good for the Bears. They are ahead of schedule in so many ways. They’re still getting the offense under their belts, and Williams is still working through his accuracy issues, and I don’t think that’s going to get sorted out in the short term. He needs help that he isn’t getting yet. But he will. Defensively, they haven’t gotten their pass rush established, and I’m sure that will be the number one need in the offseason.

  Good, competitive game. Very good game.

Brad Bigg helps answer 5 pressing questions at the Chicago Tribune:

5. Caleb Williams completed less than 50% of his passes against the Eagles, and his season percentage is now 58.1%. How concerning are his accuracy issues?

Biggs: It’s a real concern, and [head coach Ben] Johnson has been pretty direct in discussing it. The game in Philadelphia wasn’t an anomaly. Williams has been below 60% for five consecutive weeks. Some folks twist themselves in knots trying to explain it, but the reality is he needs to become more accurate. It will, no doubt, be a major point of emphasis in the offseason. Simply put, it’s unusual for elite quarterbacks to hover in the low 60s in completion percentage, and Williams would have to go on a heater even to get there before year’s end.

Yes, this is a real concern, and I fundamentally agree with this response.

Having said that, stand by for more knot-twisting.

In Williams’ defense, I don’t think it’s entirely because of his own deficiencies.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not blind. He’s missed some throws to wide-open receivers that definitely should’ve been complete. Especially deeper passes over the middle and especially throws late in the play when it looks like he’s rushing to get the ball out on time.

However, it also looks to me like Williams is missing some of them because he’s trying to throw with anticipation to a receiver who is just coming out of his break. This is, of course, the right thing to do, and I’m glad he’s attempting it even though he’s not connecting on some of them. In short, I guess what I’m saying is that at least some of the time, Williams is missing passes for all the right reasons. And I think that there’s good reason to hope that, eventually, when they start connecting on those passes, this offense will reach its potential.

When that will be, we don’t know, but if it doesn’t happen late this season, I believe that it will certainly happen next season. As has been said over and over again this year, all we need to be is patient.

Offense

• I was kind of surprised to see the Bears running the ball up the middle in the first series. I would’ve thought they would’ve tried to attack the edges in the run. The Steelers, particularly Nick Herbig, are a little light on the edges.
• It looked to me like Caleb Williams was reasonably accurate and on time on occasion today. But he’s still too inconsistent and still missed too many open throws.
• We knew this was going to be a physical game, and it looked to me like the Bears just plain got out-physicaled at the line of scrimmage. Advantage AFC North.
• A deep ball game would have been very handy today. You’d like to see Williams develop to the point where the Bears trust him more to make those long throws.
• On the other hand, credit Williams for getting the ball out quickly today. Even on the throws he missed, they came out reasonably fast.
• As has been true in recent weeks, most of Williams’s success was with throws over the middle.

Defense

• I really expected that Pittsburgh would come out running against a bunch of subs at linebackers. And that’s exactly what they did. And they had great success doing it. If you count the wide receiver screens, they made a lot of yardage.
• One thing that stuck out was the blocking by the Steelers wide receivers. It was excellent.
• Given that game plan, I expected that Pittsburgh would come out with a lot of two- and three-tight-end sets to run out of. They do it as much as any team in the league. However, to my eye, they didn’t really do that. A lot of it was one-tight-end sets. My guess is that’s because they decided to attack the edges in the run.
• I don’t think there was much of a pass rush in the first half, but Mason Rudolph did a good job of getting the ball out of his hands quickly today. Kudos to him for playing within himself and letting the team’s other highly regarded players make plays.
• Montez Sweat had a nice second half with a couple of sacks, a forced fumble, and a recovered fumble (his own). He’s earning his money.

Miscellaneous

• I like JJ Watt on color. For one thing, the guy really knows the rules. That’s helpful.
• I don’t mean to imply that I know anything about broadcasting. But I know bad work when I see it. And some of the camera work was pretty poor in this game.
• Nice interception by Nashon Wright. That was a big play early in the game on a not-so-great throw by Rudolph.
• On the other hand, the fumble by Williams in the end zone that allowed the Steelers to score a touchdown wasn’t great. You live by the sword, and you die by the sword. The guy is trying to make a play, and it backfires. It’s bound to happen.
• I was not thrilled with the call on the D’Andre Swift “fumble” in the second quarter. There’s no way the officials saw what happened on that play, and progress by Swift was stopped anyway. I think they may have decided that turnovers are reviewed and therefore called the turnover absent anybody actually seeing the play. Of course, if they couldn’t see what happened among the bodies, there’s no way that replay could show it.
• It wasn’t the debacle that some of the games earlier in the season were. But I still think the Bears need to be cleaner in terms of penalties. The taunting penalty by DJ Moore in the third quarter was pretty stupid.
• I liked “Everybody Loves Raymond”, too. But did it really call for a reunion show? And about 15 commercials about it? On the other hand, CBS’s target audience appears to be people 75 and older, so maybe so.
• It’s never an excuse, but Bears injuries really piled up today. Hopefully, the Bears will get some help in that area as players return this week from injury before the Eagles game.
• I think Ben Johnson will look back at this game and be particularly disappointed in the fact that the Bears got out-physicaled too often on both sides of the ball. I think he’s trying to establish an identity in Chicago, and that’s at the heart of it. They’ve got a way to go. It will be interesting to see how they look against a very physical Eagles team in a big TV slot on Black Friday.
• Sometimes I measure Williams’ progress by how often I yell the words, “Throw it! Throw it!” at the TV as he holds the ball. I didn’t do that once today. Be happy, Bears fans. There’s progress being made every week here.

Defense

• Interesting that the Bears decided to keep Noah Sewell at middle linebacker and leave Tremaine Edmunds at weak side linebacker with TJ Edwards out. Apparently, they decided to leave Edmunds at his position of strength rather than return him to his old position where he has a wealth of experience. That may be a measure of how much the change has benefited him.
• The Vikings went right at Nashon Wright. Wright played for the Vikings in 2024, so they know who he is. As far as I’m concerned, they would have taken their pick of the corners to pick on. Apparently, Wright was the guy. He made a pretty good play to make them pay when he intercepted McCarthy in the end zone at the end of the second half. He also broke coverage on the go ahead touchdown for the Vikings within the final minute of the game.
• The Vikings also picked on Sewell as a weak spot in the defense. They had good success running the outside zone (as they did in week 1) and went after him in coverage underneath with Aaron Jones.
• Kudos to the Viking offensive line. They did a great job of blocking the Bears in the run. Andrew Billings wasn’t a big factor, and if you can effectively block a load like that, you’re going pretty well.
• The Bears had a hard time getting pressure on McCarthy early on, but in fairness, the Vikings were trying to get the ball out quickly.
• Give credit to Grady Jarrett for getting pressure on McCarthy on a stunt on Kevin Byard’s second-quarter interception.
• I was very much worried about the offensive weapons that Minnesota brings to the table: Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor, Aaron Jones. But I underestimated how much having a rookie quarterback just getting comfortable with the speed of the NFL was going to hamper them. McCarthy was reportedly wearing a bandage on his right hand when he was warming up, and whatever was behind that couldn’t have helped. Eventually, their patience may pay off. But for now, McCarthy is holding them back. The Vikings very evidently came out in the second half trying to run the ball better to take the pressure off McCarthy.
• Justin Jefferson was wearing a double strand of large pearls or diamonds or something today. Isn’t there a rule against that? Shouldn’t there be? At least a rule against fashion?

Offense

• Caleb Williams was killing me with his deep ball accuracy on third down early. Man, the thought of where they’d be if a decent percentage of those were completions.
• The offense was just not running well. It was a stuttering, stop-and-start affair that just wasn’t smooth enough in the passing game to cleanly move the ball down the field. No one looks comfortable right now, especially when Williams is trying to connect with his wide receivers.
• The Bears keep missing those free blitzers, especially off the edge. Williams keeps pulling rabbits out of his hat and escaping, but you wonder how long he’s going to get away with that with any consistency. They need to work this out.
• About midway through the second quarter, it occurred to me that the Bears were underutilizing their tight ends again. Right about that point, they threw subsequent passes to Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland. It’s a nice job by Ben Johnson.
• I particularly liked seeing Kmet in the backfield, where he can either block or become a receiver.
• The Vikings started to get a disturbing amount of penetration from their defensive line in the second half. I’m not sure why, but Noah Jackson was behind at least some of it. He had a pretty bad half of football to my eye. In any case, the Bears need to take a close look at whatever changed. It’s hard to run the ball that way, and the Bears found it to be rougher going after that.
• Theo Benedet also struggled at times in pass protection. He’s getting pushed back into Williams too often. On the other hand, like most of the line outside of Jackson, he did a good job of run blocking.
• I’m not sure whose snaps he took, but we certainly saw more of Luther Burden today.

Miscellaneous

• It was nice to hear one of the all-time greats in Tom Brady doing color commentary and being so patient with two young quarterbacks on the field in Williams and McCarthy. I’m sure a guy like that could have torn both of them apart relentlessly for 3 hours. But no one wants to hear that right now so early in their careers when they are both so obviously just developing.
• I continue to worry about the Bears’ coverage units. Statistically, they were near the bottom of the league coming into the game.
• I’m not sure what’s behind this spate of dropped and juggled balls. Last week, I thought perhaps it was the cold weather. Hard to figure that as the reason this week in a dome.
• The Bears did a pretty good job on third down today both offensively and defensively.
• You always want 0 penalties, but realistically, they weren’t a big issue.
• The Bears have taken advantage of some weaker teams on the schedule and pulled out wins in the final minutes thanks in large part to Williams. It’s been their year to this point. But that isn’t going to be the case every year, and it’s covering up some real deficiencies, especially when it comes to depth. I think this team will continue to get better, but, to be honest, it wouldn’t hurt them to lose some games toward the end of the year to keep the organization grounded. As the schedule continues to get tougher, I think that’s likely. It’s worth remembering that getting into the playoffs and losing in the first round isn’t the goal. They may get there eventually, but they aren’t a Super Bowl contender, and they need time and resources to build.

Offense

1. I’m a little tired of seeing those quick throws to the outside almost get intercepted. OK. A lot tired.
2. You can see why Ben Johnson is always saying that Williams needs to dump the ball off. Williams drops back and holds the ball too long. We know that. He can’t stand to just let the play go and take the yardage. If he just did that sooner, the offense would run a lot smoother.
3. Having said that, I did notice as the game went on that Williams was more apt to take the short, dump-off pass over the middle, but it seemed like it was inevitably at least a beat late and on third down when teams keyed on it and stopped it well short. Those throws need to come on first and second down when everyone is covered, and they need to come faster.
4. The offensive line looked good today to me. Williams got good protection against a good rash rushing defensive front, and they blocked effectively against a team that knew the Bears wanted to run the ball. But see my comment about the free runners on the blitz below.
5. I thought Williams’ accuracy was better today than it has been.
6. We saw blitz after blitz today come free off the edge. I’m not sure who was responsible for what, but that needs to be cleaned up.

Defense

1. Greg Olsen did a great job on color today. He was on top of everything.
2. The Bears came out very evidently prepared to stop the run on a bad weather day for passing. I thought the defensive line did a good job of penetrating to stop it.
3. Jaquan Brisker was sneaking up onto the line of scrimmage late in the count. He served as an extra defender in the box on run plays and was in position to blitz pass plays.
4. Teams continue to pick on Tyrique Stevenson over Nashon Wright, who, in theory, is behind him on the depth chart. This was supposed to be Stevenson’s year to emerge. If things continue like this, we probably won’t see him back next year. In fairness, explosive plays killed the Bears today. All of the cornerbacks were struggling to some extent.
5. The Bears should have known how mobile Jackson Dart was and how much damage he can do on the ground. They were spying him on occasion, but the linebackers couldn’t keep up with him.
6. Dart also had a good day throwing the ball. You wonder what Williams thought as Dart tossed up 50-50 balls and watched his guys come down time after time with it.
7. I thought it was interesting that Dart’s legs eventually forced the Bears into more zone defense so that all of the defensive backs could keep themselves facing the quarterback.
8. And, finally, I don’t think I need say that Dart’s impact on this game couldn’t have been more apparent than when you compare what the Giants looked like with him in there with what they looked like after he got hurt and was replaced by Russell Wilson.

Miscellaneous

1. Too many drops in the cold weather today. The Bears had at least five and at least one in the end zone.
2. I continue to be dissatisfied with the Bears kickoff return and coverage teams. The difference in yardage given up versus the yardage gained seems very significant to me. It’s putting the offense and the defense both at a disadvantage.
3. Penalties were much better today. They need to keep that up.
4. Maybe it was just me, but something about FOX’s on-screen graphics reminded me of old broadcasts of games from the 1980s. Maybe it was the font? It was very weird to me.
5. I thought that Caleb Williams was better today. His accuracy was better, and I thought the ball was coming out faster, especially as the game progressed. He’s still late with his reads on occasion. But better. I really shouldn’t say this about a defense that only gave up only 20 points, but I really don’t care. I think they continue to be a mess, especially in the defensive backfield. But that is no surprise, and this year is really about Williams, anyway (just keep reminding yourself of that).

Defense

• It was hard to determine how the Bears were handling Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase. It didn’t seem like they were doing anything special in single coverage, leaving the corners to handle them as usual. I guess you can only do so much to stop two such excellent receivers at once. The Bears couldn’t do it. In fairness, on some of those catches, the coverage couldn’t have been much better.
• I thought that maybe the Bears played a bit more zone than usual. That would be a sensible move.
• Not to be forgotten, Bengals running back Chase Brown had a good game receiving for the Bengals, too.
• It seems to me over the course of the season that opponents have preferred to attack Tyrique Stevenson in coverage over Nashon Wright. That surprises me. It isn’t like Wright has been anything more than a journeyman before he got to Chicago. Maybe it’s an indication that Stevenson has been overrated by the Bears and their fans.
• I was surprised at how often the Bears blitzed Joe Flacco. Flacco is a veteran who always appeared to me to be effective when blitzed. I can’t say that it never worked today, but Flacco seemed to handle it pretty well to me. Some of the Bengals’ bigger plays were against the blitz. I guess this is a statement about where the Bears defense is right now. Problems along the front require desperate measures.
• Andrew Billings is a warrior. He has been sitting in the middle of that defense down after down this year clogging up the middle. He seems to be playing a lot more than usual as he stands between the defense being questionable against the run and being bad against the run.
• Huge game for Montez Sweat. Nice to see him breakout.
• I’m not at all sure Higgins had control of the ball on the Bengals third quarter touchdown with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. I was surprised that touchdown stood.

Offense

• In contrast to what you would expect, the Bears came out throwing the ball with their scripted plays rather than trying to take advantage of a bad Bengals run defense.
• Having said that, I’m glad to see that they made up for it in the series after that where they leaned a lot more heavily on the run. What a game from Kyle Monangai and the Bears offensive line!
• Williams was staring down receivers again today. That has to stop.
• He was holding the ball again, too. You can’t stand back there forever waiting for something to open up. If it’s not there, throw it away or take off.
• It really does sound like a broken record, but Williams does have to be more accurate on those short and intermediate throws. He’s not been consistent. Hopefully, I won’t be continuing to say this deep into the second half of the season.
• I thought that it was telling that the Bears went to a trick play in the red zone to score their first touchdown. This is what Matt Nagy resorted to when his offense couldn’t score in the red zone either…
• Not a great day for Rome Odunze who had some drops and seemed to struggle at times.

Miscellaneous

• The last time the Bears had Adam Archuleta as color analyst, he decided that Caleb Williams couldn’t work under pressure and kept saying so despite a wonderful performance under constant pressure from Maxx Crosby. I thought he was more fair today with some points that, while critical, were on point.
• Last week, I was very unhappy with the Bears’ average starting position, especially after kickoffs. Starting the game with a Bengals return to the house did not enhance my opinion of the kick coverage unit. Getting it out to the 45-yard line on the next return didn’t help either. This unit needs work. In addition, Cairo Santos missed two field goals, one of which didn’t count. And, of course, the Bears blew the onside kick late in the fourth quarter, where a recovery would have ended the game. So bad, bad day for special teams, and Richard Hightower has a lot of work to do this week.
• The Bears still have a penalty problem. It just seems like big play after big play gets called back. And that’s not counting the declined holding and pass interference calls.
• Austin Booker’s forced fumble was such a huge play at that point in the game. Anything that gives you a possession in such a back-and-forth offensive game is going to be bound to be big. And of course, Tremaine Edmunds’ interception was as big as turnovers come.
• I had flashbacks to some really bad challenges by the Bears as I watched Zak Taylor challenge that DJ Moore touchdown in the fourth quarter. Every angle I saw was that the ball broke the plane before it came loose. The only question was whether he was in bounds or not when it happened. I know first and goal from the 1 sounds like a touchdown waiting to happen, but the Bears have struggled down there. That was a bad challenge.
• I continue to believe that most of Williams’ problems have to do with a lack of comfort in the offense. We continue to see all of these things we’ve been seeing. But I really do think we saw less of them all this week. It just seems to me that these struggles are the result of that lack of comfort leaking into Williams’ mental space where it affects everything he does. From inaccurate, easy throws to holding the ball instead of letting it loose, I think that we are seeing things that may well take care of themselves as both he and those around him fight their way through this to come out on the other side. You can accuse me of being a meatball fan if you want. But I have to say that I don’t think my wishes usually interfere that much with what my eyes see.

Sean Hammond at the Chicago Tribune addresses the Bears tendency to commit penalties this season:

Penalties are almost always fixable, in theory, but the Bears haven’t found an answer. They’re averaging more than nine penalties per game, second-worst in the league. I do believe the pre-snap penalties on offense will improve by the end of the season. This is the first year in a new offense. Those types of penalties are on everyone to clean up. None of the current starting five offensive linemen had played together before this year.

As I was considering the Bears’ loss to the Ravens last Sunday, I was thinking about a circumstance in my past where I found myself in a situation that I think is very similar to the one that the Bears players find themselves in.

As Hammond notes, the Bears find themselves in the midst of establishing a new offense, one that seems to be extremely complicated in that it took almost all of training camp to install. I’m putting myself in the place of those players and I’m thinking about all of the things that must be running through their heads as they try to get comfortable with what they are doing. It is no wonder that they may lose concentration and jump a snap count here and there as they try to concentrate on technique and assignment.

As I watched quarterback Caleb Williams’ post-game press conference, I noted that he said some variation of the words “not on the same page” when describing how specific plays broke down during the game at least half a dozen times. It looked to me like there was a lot of that going on.

It’s not a good look now and a lot of Bears fans are concerned. But I’m telling you that maybe letting the process play out before passing judgement may be a good idea.

When I was a first year graduate student, I took what I considered to be my first real graduate-level course. It was a course in cardiovascular physiology. I’ll never forget the midterm, worth almost half my grade, in that course. I took it and thought I’d done OK. But what I didn’t realize was that this essay exam was much different than the multiple-choice exams that I had taken as an undergraduate student and even as a veterinary student. When I got it back, it was riddled with comments from the professor, and at the top of the page was the grade: D+. D+, ladies and gentlemen, in a program where they threw you out if you got less than a C in such a course.

Like the Bears offense, things were looking grim.

But I have to tell you that I took a lot away from that experience. I took the comments to heart and changed the way that I was studying to adapt to my new situation. I also found that as I progressed through the course and began to apply the information that I was given in different ways, things started to fall into place. And you know what? I took that final exam, pulled that damned grade up, and got a B in that course.

In the end, after it all came together, I think it may have been the best course I ever took. In fact, a large portion of my job these decades later is teaching cardiovascular physiology to medical students.

It may not be evident, but the Bears are getting better, too. Especially Williams. From Ted Nguyen at The Athletic:

The Bears and their fan base may have second-guessed Williams as the top pick after second-pick Daniels’ stellar rookie season and third-pick Maye looking like a top-10 quarterback this season. However, there’s reason for optimism in Chicago.

Williams has an incredible toolbox to work with, but he also had the steepest learning curve, having to go from freelancing to learning how to win within the pocket. This development would be made tougher by having to learn a whole new system with Johnson coming in.

The Bears offense is improved over last year, partly because of a rebuilt offensive line and Johnson’s system, but Williams has made some incredible throws within the structure of the offense. A Sunday flop for the Bears’ offense against a Baltimore defense that struggled before the bye week has caused some panic from the outside, but Williams has made progress this season, and progression isn’t always linear.

He’s been intentional with staying in the pocket and not ad-libbing unless it’s a long-yardage situation. He’s had his highs and lows, but his progress has been trending in the right direction. Outside of a bad interception in the fourth quarter when Williams should have checked the ball down, he played a solid game against the Ravens. The high-end throws were there and he took what the defense gave him on most plays.

Guys, I’m here to tell you. Things are on the right track. The Bears are at a nadir, but you can see where they’re headed, and it could be something special.

Williams and the offense consistently perform early in games when they are executing scripted plays that they have practiced all week. And though the dip in performance after those plays apparently run out is an indication of how far they have to go before they are comfortable, those early plays show you what things could be like once that happens.

It’s hard to be patient. But the evidence of progress is there if you look for it. We’ve seen a lot of bad quarterbacks in Chicago over the last 30 years and a lot of really bad offenses. Enough to know that these guys look different.

It won’t happen this week. It might not happen by December when the Bears get deep into divisional play. But they’ll make their adjustments, get their reps, get comfortable with the material, and they’ll pull themselves out of this. And by this time next year, everyone will know that the Bears have a future.

Take it from someone who has been there.

Offense

1. Baltimore came out and blitzed on the very first play and it was very evident that they planned on getting quick pressure on Williams. In the meantime, they played man coverage on the back end, and the Bears moved the ball pretty well all the way down to the 3-yard line before two negative plays made them settle for a field goal. Nevertheless, this was not the way that I would’ve approached the Bears on defense. I’m a bit surprised that they didn’t just drop back in coverage and make Williams hold the ball.
2. Like everyone else, the Ravens could read when the wide receiver screen was coming right away. The play just isn’t going to work.
3. I wonder how much of Caleb Williams’s supposed inaccuracy is due to poor timing on offense. Some of the throws just appeared to be rushed, or he appears to be just a little bit late. I’m not sure that it’s his arm so much as it’s just the way that the offense is running and the way that he’s running within it.
4. The Bears were simply allowing too many free runners to get on top of Caleb Williams. Although I said blitzing with man coverage on the back end wasn’t the way that I would approach Williams, I have to admit that the Bears didn’t do a great job of handling it. Similar to the inaccurate throws, I’m not sure how much was Williams not recognizing the free blitzes and how much was the protection. Certainly, some of it was confusion on the offensive line.
5. Having said that, the Bears did a good job of adjusting in the second half by coming out and calling some blitz beaters. Some of the screen passes worked very well, and running to the side of the free blitzes allowed them to get in behind him to get some good yardage.
6. I don’t know what the numbers are going to show, but the Bears certainly seemed hesitant to throw the ball deep today. They’re going to have to start to do that if they want to be a complete offense.

Defense

1. The Bears decided to play mostly zone on the back end in the first half. Tyler Huntley seemed to have very little issue with tearing that zone apart, and it left them vulnerable to the run by Derrick Henry. In fairness, with most of their starting cornerbacks out, the Bears may have felt that they had very little choice but to play zone.
2. When the Bears did switch to Man defense, they flat out couldn’t cover Zay Flowers.
3. It would be easy to say that the Bears struggled to get pressure on Huntley, and there may be some truth to that, but the fact of the matter is that the ball was coming out pretty fast. Huntley was simply having very little trouble handling the Bears defense on the back end. He looked sharp today.
4. The Bears gave up too many big plays, especially in the second half. It pretty much killed them today.
5. Honestly, I just don’t think the Bears had the horses on defense today to beat a desperate Ravens team that came out executing well out of the bye.

Miscellaneous

1. The Bears had some bad penalties in some bad spots today. False starts, intentional grounding. Yet another illegal formation penalty with the left tackle off the line, which eliminated a great punt. There’s a lot to clean up.
2. On special teams I’d be surprised if the Ravens didn’t have an at least 10 yard advantage in average starting position.
3. Williams was intercepted on a ball that he threw behind Rome Odunze. In a classic example of how complimentary football is supposed to work, the Ravens put the ball right into the end zone instead of committing a couple penalties and settling for a field gaol, Bears-style.

4. There can be very little doubt that the better team won today. The Bears have to some extent been winning games with smoke and mirrors. If it didn’t crash down on them today, it would have once they got deeper into divisional play. They simply have to execute better if they want to be a real, consistent winner.

   I really wish that I could say that Caleb Williams took a step forward today. But he didn’t. As I mentioned above, I’m not sure how much the issues against the blitz today were on him, and it’s evident that the timing of the offense is off. He’s still occasionally holding the ball instead of dropping back and letting go. We’ll know he’s ready when that stops.

Offense
1. Bears’ wide receiver screens are being read and not just by the Saints. Teams are picking something up. If they are going to keep calling them, they need to solve this problem.
2. On a related note, it was evident that the Bears were well scouted this game. For instance, the Saints did a nice job of defending the outside zone run that worked so well against the Commanders.
3. On the second fumbled snap in the first quarter, it didn’t look to me like Caleb Williams was expecting the ball. It was a shame to see a possession starting from such promising field position off of a recovered fumble in the first quarter result in only a field goal.
4. Mike Pereira isn’t often wrong, but my understanding is that as long as the ball touches the quarterback’s hands, it’s a snap. This was the basis of the old center sneak. So I thought the referees got the call right on the field, and the fumbled snap wasn’t illegal procedure.
5. It’s obvious the plan was to run the ball and use play action. Which is always the plan, but it seemed like it was more so today. The two-thirds of the way through the first quarter, the run:pass ratio was 20:17 at halftime. Things didn’t change in the second half. The success in the run game fueled the win.
6. I thought it was notable that despite the lack of success on the ground very early in the game, the Bears kept running the ball early in the down. Past offensive coordinators wouldn’t have continued to do this. But the Bears are confident enough in their passing game and the design of it to sacrifice the down if necessary just to keep the defense honest.
7. It was nice to see Williams finding DJ Moore more often today. Moore sat next to Williams on the bench all day.
8. This was not Williams’ best day. He was forced out of the pocket to his left an awful lot, and that affected his accuracy. He was staring down receivers and was holding the ball and playing street football way too much for my liking. He needs to get to the point where he’s dropping back and letting go of it quicker. He did look better in the second half.
9. Chase Young had a good day against Jonah Jackson. I’m starting to notice Jackson more often than I’d like.

Defense
1. My first thought here was that the Bears defensive backs did a beautiful job of covering on the back end early in the game. Even the completed passes were generally well-covered early in the game. But something happened near the end of the first half, and the Saints started moving the ball. I’m not sure if the coverage got softer or the Saints got smarter or both, but suddenly Chris Olave seemed to be open all over the field.
2. I thought the Bears got good pressure on quarterback Spencer Rattler on occasion, but I have to say that I wasn’t happy with how often they had to blitz to do it. A lot of the pressure seemed to come from defensive backs. At some point, they have to start getting more pressure from the front four.
3. Having said that, they certainly held their own up front against the run, and that was a major factor in the game.
4. It was nice to see Montez Sweat make some plays today. Obviously, we need to see more of that.
5. Tremaine Edmunds has been a considerably better player since moving to the weak side linebacker spot. He had a good day.
6. I thought the tackling was good today. Notably, the Bears’ tackling earlier in the year was not as good. It’s been better now after the bye.

Miscellaneous

1. The Saints kicker missed a field goal near the end of the first quarter. I thought it was nice to see both Josh Blackwell and Travis Homer make some plays for the Bears’ special teams. Both recently just got back from injuries.
2. The pre-snap penalties were back on a day when there were way too many penalties in general. Again. I hope we aren’t in for another week of the media blaming Caleb Williams for these lapses in concentration. They are inexcusable.
3. The Bears won the turnover battle again. Picks by Nashon Wright, Kevin Byard, and Tremaine Edmunds were notable. As is usually the case, this was the major key to the victory. ??

4. I can’t call this a step forward for Caleb Williams. There were too many times when he couldn’t let the ball go and played street ball. I’d call the performance up and down at best.
   That’s OK. You can’t expect a march forward towards greatness every week. As long as it’s two steps forward, one step back, he’ll get there, and so will the Bears.