Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Defense

1. To my eye the Bears started out bringing more pressure than usual in an effort to get to Kyler Murray. I’d say it’s likely that they identified something on tape that made them think that this would work.
2. Of course, once the Cardinals started running the ball well, the blitz became irrelevant. And they did a great job of it. They ran the ball 31 times for 208 yards and 6.7 yards per carry and it was actually worse than that because Arizona eased up in the second half.
3. It does appear that Murray often picks out his target before the snap. If the target doesn’t come open then it looks like it’s pretty much a scramble drill or a dump off.
4. Jaylon Johnson, I know you think you should be an All-Pro coverage man. But we need you to tackle, too, buddy. You’re missing too many.
5. It’s not just that the Bears were being dominated up front. They looked faster, too. I saw a number of runs where backs just plain beat everyone to the corner.

Offense

1. I was surprised at how often the Bears went empty backfield. Most analysts thought the Cardinals would be blitzing heavily. It showed a lot of faith in Caleb Williams being able to hit a hot receiver.
2. Not that the Cardinals blitzed a lot. They mostly picked their spots. It looked like they saw what I did last week. Williams had the most trouble when he expected blitz and they dropped eight into coverage.
3. Once again, Williams looked unsettled by the entire situation this week. His accuracy and timing was just a tick off.
4. Once again, Williams kind of threw up a rainbow pass into Rome Odunze early in the second quarter on a broken coverage. It’s like he’s almost afraid to throw the ball. Again, he’s not comfortable. He’s got to get back to hitting his back foot and letting go of the ball.
5. I thought TV analyst Charles Davis did a good job of pointing out something that I’ve been thinking about Williams for a long time. The Bears had the ball right within field goal range and Williams dropped back and instead of taking the dump off pass to the running back, he held the ball in an effort to get a big play. And he was sacked and taken out of field goal range. Williams has got to learn to take the easy pass in that situation. He has to stop big play hunting and make sure that he keeps the ball and field goal range.
6. D’Andre Swift has been a wonderful find for Ryan Poles and his staff. He’s quick in space, he’s sure handed and he breaks tackles. He’s been worth every penny.

Miscellaneous

1. I don’t know why Even Washburn was so surprised that it was raining during the game. The NFL website said that there was a 30% chance it would happen in their weekly Sunday game weather report.
2. Once again, congratulations to Bears fans in Arizona. We could hear you.
3. The Bears were far, far too undisciplined. They are not, nor have they ever been, the type of team that can overcome penalties and they committed a load of them today. The stats said 6 penalties for 33 yards but it seemed a lot worse.
4. Well, I think a lot of Bears fans knew that the run defense might eventually be exposed once they started playing better teams. Despite the fact that they really aren’t that good, its looked like the Cardinals on the road were the breaking point. They were dominated up front and never challenged Kyler Murray in any kind of a serious way to have to throw the ball. It will be interesting to see where the team goes from here.

I continue to believe that Caleb Williams’ problem is not the blitz. It’s when teams drop eight into coverage and rush four. It seems to leave him completely discombobulated. He’s going to have to get some coaching that’s going to give him answers and then he’s going to have to adjust or we’re going to see this the rest of the year.

Offense

1. The Bears definitely didn’t come out ready to play on offense. Pretty much everyone of the field was a step behind the Commanders players. It reminded me of the start of almost every Packers game under the current coaching regime.
2. Caleb Williams really just looked off from the beginning of this game. He was as inaccurate as we have ever seen, missing some relatively easy throws.
3. Interesting that the Bears started to put a full back into the backfield and simply tried to get the run game with some power football. They were supplementing it with plenty of off tackle runs. D’Andre Swift seems to be pretty good at breaking tackles when he’s coming at them from that sort of an angle.
4. There are two ways to try to get to a young quarterback. You can blitz him or you can rush four and drop the world into coverage. The Commanders chose the latter a lot of the time and it totally discombobulated Williams.
5. In addition, the offensive line wasn’t good enough to provide him the protection that he needed to find an open man for more than an instant. The Commanders dominated them in pass protection.
6. Well, those who were clamoring Kiran Amegadjie got their wish. That’s what it looks like when you are a rookie who misses all of training camp and you are thrown into the fire.

Defense

1. The Commanders came out running the ball well. It was essentially a mirror image of the Bears own game plan. They ran the ball 6 times for 7.3 yards per carry on the first drive. It was fairly obvious that the Bears were going to be challenged to stop it.
2. To their credit, the Bears did clamp down on the run. But it definitely opened up the pass. And though you definitely don’t want either to be open, I can understand their choice. The Commanders in the air, though dangerous, are less dangerous than the Commanders on the ground.
3. The Bears were trying to cover Terry McLaurin with Tyreek Stevenson in tight man with single high safety help. Whenever Jayden Daniels saw that, the ball was going to McLaurin. The safety some times struggled to get over in time.
4. The Bears really struggled to contain Daniels within the pocket. The pass rush was disciplined enough but Daniels was to elusive to keep up with.
5. I don’t think that I have to say it anymore because its so obvious. But the Commanders were picking on Stevenson.

Miscellaneous

1. Jim Nance and Tony Romo dud a great job as usual. The quality of the analysis just out strips everyone when these guys are on. I thought Romo was maybe a little subdued but that may have come from the realization that the Bears simply weren’t performing to a credible standard on offense. Like pretty much every other Bears game he’s ever done. As he said about 5 minutes into the fourth quarter, “Well, this game should be over before midnight.” Honestly, I wanted to turn it off long before that.
2. The statistics on this game are so grim, I’m not even going to bother. The Commanders dominated this game in every way. The difference in time of possession was a crime. Frankly, I’m surprised that the defense didn’t wear down more than it did.
3. This was an absolutely miserable game to watch. The Commanders are a good team but the 2024 Bears offense made them look like the 1985 Bears on defense. The team was coming off of a bye and it was evident that their mind was still on vacation. This was simply about not being ready to play.

Caleb Williams now has a book on him. We’ll see the divisional rivals pick up on the fact that if you drop eight into coverage that Williams won’t be able to let the ball go. He was nervous and inaccurate in a way that we haven’t seen all year. He didn’t just look like a rookie. He looked like a bad rookie.

Such are the potential ups and downs of being a rookie quarterback in the NFL. Now we’ll see if Williams and the Bears adjust.

Offense

1. The Jaguars came in with the No. 8 run defense this week but are 32nd versus the pass. So I was surprised that the Bears ran the ball as much as they did. They ran the ball 15 times for 6.4 yards per carry in the first half. They threw the ball 15 times. The final run/pass ratio was 25/29. This was all fortunate for the Bears. They always need to run whether it works or not. But their offense definitely looks best when the run is working. The Jaguars eventually had to stop playing games up front and it slowed their pass rush. Caleb Williams occasionally had a lot of time in the pocket, especially in the first half.
2. One thing that really stuck out was the number of times that Williams ran today. I wonder if that’s going to be something that they’re going to try to incorporate into their office more and more. It does add an extra dimension and it slows the pass rush because the defensive linemen have to stay disciplined. As long as Williams is careful with it and doesn’t get hurt.
3. Its still early and the protection generally wasn’t bad. But the Bears have to be very concerned about Braxton Jones, now. He’s occasionally getting pushed around by the bull rush and its not getting a lot better.
4. Big game for D’Andre Swift (17 carries for 91 yards, 4 receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown). The Bears got him into space and he took advantage of it. stats
5. Nice to see Keenan Allen have a good game today. He caught 5 balls for 41 yards and two touchdowns. Only Cole Kmet had a better game with 5 for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Defense

1. No great surprise. The Jaguars came out and attacked Jaylon Jones and did so with some success. But generally speaking the Bears did a good job of limiting the big play with the help of some big drops by the Jaguars receivers. I’m pretty sure they were willing to give up short completions today and make the Jaguars work their way down field.
2. Not to make too much of it but I’m really surprised that Trevor Lawrence, who is basically a veteran, still relies on an arm band to call the plays.
3. Kyler Gordon had a wonderful game. Surprisingly, he often showed up best against the run. Of course, you need that as a nickel but you don’t often see it as a strength. When he left the game with an injury, the difference was obvious.
4. Lawrence does a very good job against the blitz. He has a knack for hitting receivers right in the area a blitzer just vacated.

Miscellaneous

1. LOL Rich Eisen – “There is no ‘I’ in Kmet!” I love you, Rich, but that one might have been just a tad bit forced.
2. Guys were slipping all over the turf in the first half on both sides. They seemed to adjust in the second half.
3. I get very frustrated at some of the incomplete calls from replay. Travis Etienne tucked that ball away in the second quarter. It might not be the rule but in my book, that’s possession.
4. I thought the best news I got all week was when I heard that the Jaguars were coming in late in the week. Despite the fact that they do this every year I distinctly remembered the Bears doing the same think the last time that the Bears came into London. They played jet lagged all game. But the Jags really do know what they’re doing. They were definitely ready to play in the first quarter of this game and, if anything, the Bears looked a step slow. the guess here is that they come in late but don’t let it disrupt their sleep schedule.
5. Kudos once again to Bears fans for showing up in London and making enough noise to make it tough for the Jaguars players to hear on occasion. My understanding is that Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is basically built to be loud. They took advantage of it.
6. Kudos to punter Tory Taylor, who did a wonderful job getting some wild snaps from Cole Kmet down for kicks today. Regular long snapper Scott Daly went down in the first quarter with an injury.
7. The Jaguars played pretty well at times today and their stats weren’t that much worse than the Bears. But they flat out dropped at least three touchdowns this game. That, along with the two turnovers, was just a killer. They had some critical penalties that also hurt them badly.
8. While I certainly give credit to the Bears for playing reasonably well on both sides of the ball today, once again you have to consider the opponent. Like the Panthers, who the Bears played last week, the Jaguars aren’t very good right now. And, like the Panthers, the Jaguars played poorly even by their standards. But those days look like they are coming to an end. The Commanders are next up after the bye and they won’t be push overs. And the divisional games are coming… We’re going to find out what this team is really made of soon.

The most important thing – and let’s never forget it – is the progress of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams looked pretty good today. He had a couple throw I know he’d like back. He held the ball too long on occasion, again. But in fairness the Jaguars were often flagged in the secondary on those plays, explaining why he couldn’t find a receiver. the touchdown pass to Keenan Allen in the second half was a very good professional throw. Williams is making nice progress. If the Bears keep slowing the pass rush by running the ball well, he’ll continue to have rookie success.

Defense

1. If the Bears defense has shown a weakness this, year its been against the run. So I was quite surprised that the Panther came out and didn’t try to do it more. Basically, it was run on first down to say that you did it, then throw for the first couple sets of downs. Then Chuba Hubbard broke for a 38 yard touchdown run (on first down) and I thought Carolina would get the hint. But evidently not. Sometimes young offensive coaches like Dave Canales like to throw the ball around the yard a little too much. That might be what happened here.
2. The lack of a running game allowed the Bears pass rushers to T-off on Andy Dalton and his offensive line. It was like watching the Bears offense the first couple weeks of the season.
3. On a related note, Andy Dalton is a master of getting rid of the ball at the last minute. He took a lot of shots but it was almost always just after getting the ball right to or very near to a receiver. The Bears had four sacks and Dalton was the reason that they didn’t have more.
4. I hope that Carolina’s Tommy Tremble is OK after a big hit from Jaquan Brisker caused a fumble. Tremble dipped his head and hit Brisker with the crown. When he went down it looked to me like he was showing signs of a concussion. This is why you don’t do that. Honestly, it should be every bit the penalty that it would have been if a defensive player had done it. Its for the player’s own protection.
5. Bryce Young showed some pocket movement. I think Canales might be working with him in the hope that after some time on the bench that they can bring him back later in the season.
6. Pretty hard to be too critical of the defense after such a nice game. The Bears held the Panthers to just three third down conversions and they got three turnovers. I’m not one to hyperbole but the word dominant fits today.

Offense

1. The Bears went no huddle early today. I know Caleb Williams is more comfortable in it but that will only get you so far…
2. So glad to see D’Andre Swift get going early. I’ve seen a lot of moaning about Khalil Herbert’s playing time. The Bears have been desperate to get Swift going. The bet here is that the Bears have been giving Swift more carries in order to allow him to get going. Many running backs will tell you that they need more carries to get into the flow of the game. Unfortunately those extra carries are probably coming at the expense of anything that Herbert would’ve gotten. The screen play that the Bears ran with Swift late in the second quarter to the 2 yard line was a good example of why the Bears prefer to go with Swift. He’s a much better pass catcher and he’s a little quicker in the open field. How many carries did Herbert get?Herbert got no carries today.
3. Speaking of getting Swift going, the Bears second possession was a wonderful example of what can happen when you have a quarterback out with a run game. I criticized Williams for not executing his run fakes last week so he made me proud by executing one this week to hold the safety in on a 34 yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore. Admittedly it also looked like a broken coverage. But I loved it anyway.
4. Kudos to the Bears for starting the game running the ball from the get go, seeing that it was working, and leaning on it. They did a great job controlling the Panthers around up front. We saw what this offense is supposed to look like today. Run the ball (128 yards on 38 attempts), slow the rush and protect your quarterback with it and pass off of it (20/29 for 296 yards). The Bears ran on 57% of their plays. The trick will be doing it against better teams late in the year. But that’s trouble enough for another day.
5. I’ve no idea why the Carolina Panthers kept leaving D.J. Moore in single coverage this game. And the miscommunication on the back end of the defense was shocking. We/I love to talk about poor coaching on the Bears end. But this was a new level of terrible. I know that the Panthers roster is decimated by injury but that’s not an excuse. These guys are all professionals and they should be ready to play.
6. I thought Williams did a particularly good job of spreading the football around today. Moore got the most targets, and as well he should on a day like today, but nobody was really ignored.
7. I know that everybody loves watching Williams dance around in the backfield and avoid tacklers and scramble. But he’s got to get rid of the ball quicker. You can’t live like that.
8. Try as they might they just couldn’t avoid playing Nate Davis. He came on when Matt Pryor was ejected late in the fourth quarter.

Miscellaneous

1. It wasn’t as bad today (5 penalties for 46 yards) but I cringe every time the Bears get a pre-snap penalty. Going into the game, the Bears had nine false-start penalties, second in the league behind the Houston Texans (12). The Bears also had three illegal-formation penalties and two delay-of-game calls. So nearly half of their penalties are pre-snap infractions. And its not just one guys. Its everywhere on the unit.
   I know that the Bears won convincingly today and I’m not going to harp on this. I’m just going to say one thing here that everybody knows. Good teams simply do not do this. The Packers don’t do it. Nobody who’s any good year to year allows this to happen. This is fat flat out a coaching failure. The Bears once again weren’t ready to play at the beginning of this season. In the end the common denominator is head coach Matt Eberflus. Ultimately he has to bear responsibility for this problem and the fact that it took at least four games to clean it up.
2. Eddie Pineiro missed a relatively easy field goal going into half time and all I could think was “when it rains, it pours”.
3. Once again, winning the turnover margin was a big deal today. I’m not sure that they made the difference in a game like this but the three turnovers that the Panthers gave up certainly hurt.
4. I love that the guy on the commercial advertising next week’s match up with the Jaguars in London had an Australian accent. ?
5. Would that the Bears could play the Panthers every week.

Offense

1. One of the first things that I noticed was that Khari Blasingame was inactive. I can’t figure out why. I can only assume that they thought that they could get the same production out of other more versatile players like Gerald Everett, Doug Kramer and Cole Kmet. Having said though he wasn’t assigned a game status, he was on the injury report this week for hand/knee issues.
2. The Bears attacked the edges early, especially to the right where Darnell Write and Matt Pryor were lined up. It seemed to work. Tevin Jenkins eventually exited and Nate Davis took over at right guard. But it appears the the Bears continued to run that way.
3. In the end, the Bears ran the ball 28 times (54% of the total snaps) for 131 yards and 4.7 yards per carry. I can’t complain about that.
4. The Bears are continuing to struggle when blocking on screen passes. This is just poor fundamentals. Even when they had good blocks, the receiver seemed to be running the wrong way.
5. It hard to watch Caleb Williams hold the ball forever in the face of a heavy pass rush. People talk about the hits that he’s taking like its all the offensive line but he’s got to get rid of the ball. I’m wondering if the coaching staff isn’t largely to blame for this. After three turnovers last week, you kind of wonder if they didn’t pound away at the fact that Williams couldn’t afford to turn the ball over this week. It’s possible that it took the aggression out of him. IN fairness, Williams did better dumping the ball off to Deandre Swift later in the game.
6. I pointed out last week that Braxton Jones seem to be struggling. I think he struggled again this week, admittedly, against a good pass rusher in Jared Verse. You could argue that he could’ve used some help. But I really think he should’ve been able to handle it better than this. I’ll ask again. Is he healthy? Are any of the offensive linemen other than Coleman Shelton healthy?
7. I like the way that the Bears used Deandre Swift in the passing game today (7 catches for 72 yards). We need to see more of that. Roschon Johnson also ran well though it was mostly in short yardage situations.
8. It was funny watching Williams trying to get the ball to DJ Moore over and over again. They just couldn’t get on the same page. They finally broke through with a touchdown late in the third quarter after a very frustrating game to that point.
9. The Bears were only 3 for 9 on third down and you’d like to see that number come up.

Defense

1. The Rams came out running the ball well, averaging more than 5 yards/carry on the first series. They used that and faked a handoff for play action on each pass. I’m not really understanding why the Bears don’t do this when a running back is lined up in the backfield. The back just runs out with no fake.
2. I said last week that I thought the Bears defense were down against the run despite the fact that the Bears offense dominated time of possession. I have a feeling that Sean McVay agreed. The Rams ran the ball reasonably well today at 4.6 yards per carry.
3. I thought Jaquan Brisker’s almost interception in the second quarter was really interesting. It looked like the Bears switched up and went from their predominant zone defense look to man-to-man. I think Matthew Stafford didn’t pick up on it and had his target in mind before the ball was even snapped. He threw it right into Brisker’s gut.
4. I also thought that it was interesting that the Bears chose to blitz as much as they did this game. I didn’t see that coming. It hurt the run defense and but it was effective enough, I thought.
5. Though they did have one or two big plays, for the most part I didn’t think that the Rams screen game was any better than the Bears. Pretty pathetic.
6. Pick away at the Bears defense as much as I might, you have to give them credit for playing well enough to win today.

Miscellaneous

1. Mark Sanchez and Adam Amin made a big deal of the fact that the referee did a good job of explaining why Brisker’s interception didn’t stand. Unfortunately FOX did nothing to help. The failed to show the replay so that we could actually see it.
2. Velus Jones was inactive again. I’m having a bit of a difficult time understanding what the plan is for him. Perhaps they’re hoping that he’ll develop into a better running back as the season goes on. Otherwise I don’t see much reason for him to be on the roster.
3. I saw someone submitted a question to the Chicago Tribune this week moaning about the fact that Bears chose to draft a punter in the fourth round rather than an offensive lineman. I think this game did a pretty good job of demonstrating why that was a pretty good pick. Tory Taylor is a wonderful player.
4. Even as a Bears fan, I have to say that that was an awful non-call in the end zone on the Rams last offensive play. That was roughing the passer all the way.
5. Having harped away at the Bears coaching staff above for hampering Williams’ aggressive instincts, you have to admit that the Rams two turnovers were probably the difference in this game.
6. We need some sort of a way to filter political commercials out of my TV broadcasts. Something like the “muted words” that X has.
7. I’d like to thank the NFL for once again putting the Bears on at noon on Sunday next week against the Panthers so that we can watch football in the way that God intended.
8. You take your wins where you can get them but it was brutal watching these two teams take turns blowing opportunity after opportunity. Penalties, poor timing and poor execution and, in the Rams case, two very costly turnovers. The Bears had 10 penalties for 84 yards. The Bears are not a team that simply cannot afford to give up yardage like that. They’re not good enough offensively to make up for it.

Getting to the most important point, I thought Williams took another incremental step forward today. As the game wore on, he got more and more comfortable taking the easy throw and moving the chains. It was something Justin Fields could never quite get right and its not something that can be under appreciated.

Offense

1. The second play the game and there was a miscommunication between Caleb Williams and D.J. Moore. It was one of many times when members of the offense didn’t look like they were all on the same page to me. The timing always seems to be off. The offense is very uncoordinated right now.
2. The Bears ran the ball pretty well for the first couple of sets of downs. Then they stalled out as the Colts started loading up the line of scrimmage and stopping the run. Indianapolis was trying to force Williams to throw the ball as much as possible and the Bears were in trouble whenever the Colts forced them into a passing situation.
3. Williams was passing up some easy throws underneath in order to hold the ball for the big play. Admittedly, he didn’t have a lot of time anyway but when he did, he was wasting the chance to move the chains to go for the home run. It wasn’t as bad as it was in his first game. But it was still noticeable.
4. In fairness, Williams does throw an excellent deep ball. The 47 yard pass to Rome Odunze in the second quarter couldn’t have been better.
5. Williams still seems to be holding the ball an awful lot on occasion. Not all of that pressure that he saw in this game was on the protection.
6. I’m not one to question play calling but fourth and 1 with less than 2:00 left in the first half and the Bears pitch the ball to Deandre Swift for a 12 yard loss. The offensive line was a sieve but in fairness I think the Colts knew what was coming. They read those outside runs like a book all game and it was evidently a pretty transparent fourth run in a row. I’m all in favor of not giving up on the run but calling it over and over and getting nowhere is going beyond just keeping the defense honest.
7. Then its third and four near mid field late in the third quarter, and the Bears go empty backfield. Not even a run fake to slow the pass rush? Just a running back in the backfield to make a whiff of a threat of one? That just ain’t good.
8. Braxton Jones really struggled this game. He looked like he was getting overpowered. I’m starting to wonder how many players on the offensive line are healthy.
9. The Bears were a miserable 11/23 in combined third and fourth down efficiency. More tellingly, they ran for just 2.3 yards per carry against what has been a miserable Colts run defense. The Bears aren’t going anywhere until they figure out how to run the ball.

Defense

1. Tough start for Anthony Richardson. He doesn’t look very accurate. I saw him play last week and you look the same. He air emailed a lot of balls. Some very questionable decisions. He’s obviously struggling as a rookie.
2. I remember thinking when Richardson was drafted that he was an athlete that might not be a very good quarterback. But, then, again, I thought the same thing about Lamar Jackson. So this time I think I’ll keep my mouth shut.
3. Completely broken coverage set up the Colts deep into Bears territory in the second quarter. They it looks like the Bears got caught playing a light box on the first Colts touchdown. Then the players on the backside didn’t fill correctly, and Jonathan Taylor was off to the races. The offense isn’t the only unit on this team that looked a little uncoordinated today.
4. The Bears defense had to know that their primary mission in the second half was going to eliminate the big plays that they had given up in the first half. It was therefore very disappointing to see the very first play of the second half be a pass to a wide-open receiver to the Colts left-hand side. Richardson overthrew yet another pass, and Jaylon Johnson picked it off. But it was a bad sign. This team doesn’t look very well coached at the moment.
5. The Bears were well up in time of possession this game. The Bears time of possession was almost double the Colts at half time. They game ended with the Bears up 35:00-25:00. There was no excuse for the way that they wore down against the run in this game.

Miscellaneous

1. The CBS crew of Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, and Jason McCourty. I won’t say that there was a lot said that was particularly insightful as these broadcasting teams go. But there were times when it was like three guys on the couch talking football.
2. Kudos to Bears fans who made themselves heard pretty well this game.
3. A brutal interception in the end zone by Richardson saved at least 3 points for the Bears. But Williams almost immediately followed it with one of his own and there was another terrible interception for Williams in the third quarter as he tried to force the ball into Odunze. Finally, Williams was also stripped from behind as he attempted to pass the ball in the midway through fourth quarter. This was truly a match up of young quarterbacks who both struggled at times.
4. Pretty funny moment when Williams and Odunze were fighting over the football on the touchdown in the fourth quarter. The first NFL touchdown for both of them.
5. Watching this game was a pretty tough way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For much of the game both offenses were quite miserable. At least until Indianapolis started to run the ball. The entire Bears offense looks uncoordinated. Certainly the timing isn’t what it needs to be and they can’t run the ball.

But let’s not lose sight of the fact that this season is about Caleb Williams’ development. And turnovers aside, I thought he looked better today than he did the first two games. He was 33/52 of 363 yards. That was more than double what second year quarterback Richardson had. The Bears out gained the Colts and they dominated time of possession. He’s still holding the ball but I see progress.

Defense

1. The Bears obviously, correctly, expected the Titans to be run heavy today. They played a lot of 7 man, base fronts. Unfortunately, they didn’t do a great job in the first half, allowing more than 7 yards per rush. It looked to me like the Titans started to attack the Bears around the edges and off tackle in the second quarter and they were off to the races. Kudos to the the Bears as they made some corrections and did better in the second half, shutting the Titans out.
2. The Bears were getting pressure from their front four without help. New pass rusher Darrell Taylor looks to be the real deal. His weakness, however, is reportedly stopping the run. See my first point. Nevertheless, Taylor looks like he can apply enough pressure opposite Montez Sweat to cause trouble for opposing offenses this year.
3. The Bears had a tough time covering Calvin Ridley out there. They weren’t doing anything special to stop him, probably thinking that Jaylon Johnson could handle him. Indeed, Johnson should have been able to handle him. He didn’t.
4. The Bears defense held the Titans to 4 for 16 on third and fourth down which is excellent.

Offense

1. The game plan for the Bears was to run the ball and protect Caleb Williams. The offensive line flat out let them down. The Bears ran for only 3.8 yards per carry and it looked a lot worse than that before the fourth quarter where they started having some success running around the edges.
2. There were several instances where the Bears had poor protection including one where Coleman Shelton let a defensive lineman through like he was a turn-style. They lost the battle at the line of scrimmage and that nearly lost them to war.
3. Williams had third down and short at least three times in the first half where, instead of taking the short throw, he went hunting big plays that didn’t connect. This is the NFL, baby. We’re begging you. Take the first down like a professional. Otherwise you’re just Justin Fields out there.
4. Williams had his share of troubles today with timing. He was frequently late with his throws. And the longer this game went on, the more inaccurate he got. I think the Titans might have been in his head a bit.
5. It’s worth noting that the Titans defense didn’t do anything fancy for the majority of this game. They were getting pressure with their front four and didn’t need to. It’s notable that they did start to do some more in the second half to perhaps keep Williams head spinning a bit and they thought they’d be going for the throat.
6. The number of tipped passes was notable today. Williams isn’t a very tall quarterback and you wonder if this is going to be a chronic problem.
7. Jeffrey Simmons was a monster in this game. The Bears interior linemen basically couldn’t block him. Guy is an all pro and looks it.
8. I kept hearing all week about how offensive coordinator Shane Waldron needs to be a better play caller than Luke Getsy was last year. I don’t think people understand that being an offensive coordinator isn’t just about calling plays. By far the most important job the offensive coordinator has is to “coordinate” the offense. The Bears offense didn’t look very coordinated today. It was partly having a rookie quarterback. But that wasn’t all of it.
9. Looking at Williams feet, they weren’t very calm in the pocket. He saw a lot of pressure and there’s a reason why that may have been the case. But I never thought he looked comfortable. The good news is that I did occasionally see him drop back and hit his back foot foot and fire to the correct receiver the way that you see the best quarterbacks in the league do. That was definitely when he was at his best.
10. It sounds like I’m picking on him but Williams also has to work on that body language. It was very evident that he got frustrated during the game and you really shouldn’t let that show. Not if you’re going to be a leader on the team.
11. The Bears were 4 for 15 on third and fourth down which isn’t great. I’d say they did OK in the red zone because they were rarely there. The swing pass to DeAndre Swift for the two point conversion on the last touchdown was a good play.

Miscellaneous

1. You never quite know what’s going to come out of the mouth of Mark Sanchez. He is a different kind of dude. Not necessarily bad. Just very different.
2. As far as special teams goes, Velus Jones muffed a kick return. Again. He barely saw the field after that and not at all on kickoff returns. DeAndre Carter has 66 yard kick return. He looks like a good pick up. The Bears had a number of penalties on special teams and they’re going to want to clean that up.
3. One of my favorite players from the preseason was Daniel Hardy. It was great to see you and get a blocked punt. Jonathan Owens picked up the ball and took it to the house. Nice play.
4. The Bears finished with 7 penalties for 55 yards. Nothing horrible.
5. Turnovers were, of course, the reason the Bears were in this game. The Will Levis fumble, the blocked punt for a touchdown, Jaylon Johnson’s interception with about 2 minutes left and Tyreek Stevenson’s pick 6 were basically the reason the Bears scored. They’ll need to keep that up unless they start playing better.
6. The win was nice and I know that the team is feeling pressure to do that. But as far as I’m concerned this season is 100% about Caleb Williams and how he progresses.

He had a rough day today at 14 of 29 for 93 yards passing with a 55.2 quarterback rating. He had some good streaks of play and he also missed some throws and did some things that I’m sure he’d want to have back. There were times during the game when he was very evidently frustrated. I think those kinds of ups and downs are what you get from a rookie quarterback. And despite the fact that many fans in Chicago seem to think that this guy was going to come out of the womb as an All Pro, he’s got a way to go.

So here we have the benchmark. This is where Williams begins the journey. Now we get to watch and see how he develops and gets better over the course of the season. If he’s significantly better halfway through the year and in the top half of the league by the end of the season, that’s going to be a hell of a good year for the Chicago Bears. Let’s all hope that’s the way it progresses and that the fans and media are smart enough to know that.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“Are you surprised by any of the roster moves they made or players they kept? — @jtbcubs

I don’t think anything the Bears did in establishing an initial 53-man roster Tuesday was a surprise, and I’ll get into some specific questions folks submitted below. I had projected that **Velus Jones** would be waived, but the Bears kept the 2022 third-round draft pick. That probably signals they have plans for him beyond returning kickoffs and other areas on special teams.”

“Perhaps Jones can have more success than he did the previous two seasons. It’s difficult to give up on a Day 2 draft pick, especially one with Jones’ combination of speed and strength.”

I hope I have to eat these words, but if Jones had anything to give on the field, he would have shown it by now. His value is as a kick returner and he couldn’t even do that. The very first kickoff of the pre-season he bobbled it. Statistically he’s not bad in this capacity but can you think of a single kickoff return last year where you thought, “Wow. That guys is a difference maker.”?

He’ll probably be a better running back than he was a wide receiver but, even if he develops, he’ll be nothing more than what amounts to a gadget guy for a long time yet.

• Biggs continues:

“Will the Bears try to sign a veteran quarterback to help with development? — @dillonbirch__

“When the team did not re-sign **Brett Rypien** to the practice squad, my hunch was he was hunting an opportunity on a 53-man roster elsewhere. That happened when the Minnesota Vikings signed Rypien on Thursday. Plan B for the Bears was adding undrafted rookie **Austin Reed** to the practice squad. I’m not surprised the Bears opted for Reed instead of a player with more experience.

Nor am I. But when Reed and Rypien were both released my first thought was that the Bears would try to find a better option on the street for this spot.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Reed fine. But I don’t see the upside that I would like to in a developmental quarterback. But perhaps the Bears were impressed with how he played in the preseason games despite getting almost no snaps in practice.

• Biggs also has a thought about the status of fullback Khari Blasingame:

“Unless I missed one, the last fullback (at least a dedicated fullback for the full season) **Shane Waldron** worked with was **Heath Evans** in 2008 with the New England Patriots.

Waldron was an offensive quality control assistant that season — his first in the league — and was promoted to tight ends coach the next year.

It’s something I have been wondering about since **Matt Eberflus** hired him because Waldron didn’t have a fullback in his offense the past three seasons as the Seattle Seahawks coordinator. Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Rams under **Sean McVay**, who went away from having a fullback on his roster. When McVay and Waldron were assistants for Washington in 2016 on **Jay Gruden**’s staff, there wasn’t a fullback (I’m not counting the time Waldron spent between stints when he was in the United Football League, at UMass and spent one season at the prep level.).

Sixteen years after Evans and Waldron were together in New England, will there be a fullback for the Bears offense?

That question will be answered as we move toward Tuesday’s roster cuts. I think there is a decent chance Khari Blasingame is on the team — a projected 53-man roster is below — but there are myriad factors to consider.”

I was glad to see that Blasingame was, indeed, signed to the practice squad with the evident idea of elevating him on game day this week.

One thing I’ll say for certain. Last year under Luke Getsy the running game always looked better when blasting game was in the game. I always thought Getsy was underrated when it came to designing run plays to begin with. And good things seemed to happen when he had a fullback on the field. I was often left to wish he had used Blasingame a bit more often.

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com expresses his disdain for the first episode of Hard Knocks:

“The Bears didn’t want to do Hard Knocks. And it showed.

“The first episode of the latest season of preseason Hard Knocks was basically worthless. And that probably made the Bears very happy.

“With Bears chairman George McCaskey consistently taking the position that he has no interest in having the Bears participate in Hard Knocks, seeing the reaction to New York’s turn on the newly-hatched offseason Hard Knocks surely made him insist on even greater care to be exercised in the selection of snippets for the first installment. And it likely will continue, through the final one.”

My first reaction immediately after the show ended was to agree with Florio. Neither head coach Matt Eberflus nor quarterback Caleb Williams are what I would call engaging personalities and they’re going to have to carry this thing.

But over next the couple of days, little things about the episode kept coming back to me.

For instance, there was a point as receiver Collin Johnson‘s big Hall of Fame game performance developed that Williams turned to receiver Keenan Allen and said that “there’s no way they’re keeping that guy off the roster”. Allen quickly responded, “Well, how many receivers are they going to keep?”. Williams gave me the impression that he didn’t appreciate the contradiction. In another scene, Allen was talking animatedly about something that had happened on the field and Williams mumbled a response and turned his back before Allen had finished speaking. Allen had a faint look of irritation on his face as it happened.

Neither incident is a big deal in an environment where people work closely together for extended periods of time. But they did give a little insight into the personality of each man.

By far the highlight for me was the conversation that Eberflus had with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Saban emphasized The fact that expectations for Williams were sky high and he reminded Eberflus and the viewers that Peyton Manning, possibly the best quarterback to ever play the game, threw something like 20 interceptions in his first season with the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts won one game that year. I wholeheartedly agree, 100% with almost every single thing that Saban said.

• Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune has a few things to say about the upcoming season:

“Making the playoffs is a reasonable expectation.

“Even with a rookie quarterback and a new offensive system, the Bears roster is sturdy enough now to compete for a playoff berth. The bar has been set accordingly — both inside Halas Hall and in the outside world.”

I have to mildly disagree here. I think making the playoffs is a reasonable goal not a reasonable expectation.

I can’t bring myself to expect that Williams will be a good quarterback for the first 8 or so games of the season. I don’t care how many weapons you surround him with he’s still a rookie and he’s still the guy with the ball in his hands the majority of the time. Those weapons mean he’ll win more than the 1 game Manning did. But they don’t mean that he will be able to avoid the errors that come with the territory.

• Speaking of Williams I was quite fascinated by what I saw in his first preseason game on Saturday. I am left wondering what the end point for his development is supposed to look like.

Should we be looking for him to eventually develop into a quarterback who can drop back, hit his back foot and get rid of the ball on time to a receiver? Or should we be looking for him to eventually be an improved version of the drop back, hold the ball and wait for someone to come open, “see it, throw it” quarterback that we saw on Saturday?

My hope is for the former. But I am wondering if it isn’t going to be the latter. I am reminded of a quote from Williams as he was talking to receiver **DJ Moore* in the first episode of Hard Knocks. Williams said to Moore, “Just find some open green and I’ll find you.” The quote had no context and so it’s a little tough to tell what exact situation Williams was referring to. But if that’s the plan for every play, we’re in for some interesting times.

• Brad Biggs, also at the Tribune, answers your questions. And mine.

“I was disappointed in the Bears last year in Week 1. To my eye they looked unprepared to play the Packers, who were the youngest team in the NFL last year and who looked very much prepared. I have to believe that this was, in part, a coaching issue. Is Matt Eberflus doing anything different to prevent something like that from happening again at the start of this year? — Tom S., Chicago

“Good question and one that was raised previously this offseason. The thing that struck me most about that 38-20 loss at Soldier Field was the number of breakdowns the Bears had in the secondary, the result of a series of miscommunications. That was one reason Jordan Love had four pass plays that went for 30 yards or more. Do you chalk that up to having a rookie (Tyrique Stevenson) starting at one cornerback spot and two second-year players (Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon) in the secondary? Maybe.

“The Bears didn’t have much of a pass rush and they’ve improved that with the addition of Montez Sweat. The defense looked more detailed after coordinator Alan Williams left. I don’t know how a new offense with a rookie quarterback will look in Week 1 this season. I do believe the defense will be much more buttoned down after an uneven start to last season.”

All reasonably good points. I’d say that the breakdowns in the secondary were a good example of what I was thinking of but the excuse that the players were young rings hollow when you look at the average age of the Packers as a team last year. And they came in humming on all cylinders. Perhaps the point that they eventually fired Alan Williams gets closer to the answer that I was looking for.

In any case, perhaps related to this question, there were these quotes from Moore and Cole Kmet that caught my attention earlier in the offseason. Via Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic:

“So when asked for a timeline for the offense coming together, [receiver DJ] Moore responded simply, ‘Tomorrow.’

“‘We gotta get this thing going quickly,’ Kmet said. ‘There’s not going to be time to kind of meander through this thing. We’ve got to get this thing going quickly here. We’ve got to operate at a high level. We’ve got to really take advantage of our walk-throughs when we get these things at night. The better we are through these things, the faster we will be on game day. But it’s got to happen quickly.'”

Something tells me that this has been Eberflus’s message to the team since camp began. He’s decided to try to instill a sense of urgency and he’s decided to do it earlier than last year. Perhaps that will be the answer.

One Final Thought

Dan Pizzuta at the 33rd team talks about the rise of the pistol in NFL offenses:

“The team that might have figured out passing from pistol the best was the Seattle Seahawks with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Of the teams that used pistol for at least 50 snaps last season, the Seahawks easily had the highest pass rate at 59 percent and the highest EPA per dropback.

“Seattle was able to create space down the field with a number of different concepts.”

As an old school NFL fan who likes to see his offenses run heavy with a healthy dose of play action pass, I find myself constantly lamenting the loss of offenses that start with the quarterback under center. A nice downhill start for the running back makes for a quicker hitting run play and for more convincing run fakes.

Waldron’s tendency to use multiple tight ends in the offense last year is well documents. This article gives me hope that we might see more of the pistol as a compromise between those under center plays and the full on shotgun formations that give the quarterback a good view of the defense without having to turn his back to it so completely for too long.

• Mike Sando at The Athletic quotes unnamed league execs on the draft for all 16 NFC teams. Here’s what one exec said about Minnesota’s draft:

“I can buy trading some future picks if you are going to be contending and you are going to get a potential starter,” one exec said. “But the Vikings are not even close to contending. What they did, or even what the Bears did in giving up a (2025) fourth (for a fifth this year), I would not be doing that if I were those teams.”

As I have said before, I 100% agree with this as far as the Bears draft was concerned.

As far as the Vikings go, I was initially impressed by their draft. I thought waiting for J.J. McCarthy to fall to them was great work. And they certainly needed pass rush and got their guy by trading up for Dallas Turner.

But then I saw what they gave up for Turner and my stomach turned cold. The Vikings traded a 2025 second round pick to Houston before the draft to get up to the #23 pick, then traded 2025 third- and fourth-round picks to Jacksonville to jump from 23 to 17.

Its one thing for the Bears to trade a 2025 fourth rounder away to take a flier on Austin Booker. That’s at least a debatable move. But to kill your 2025 draft, leaving your self just 3 picks, for Turner, who is far from a sure thing, seemed extreme.

• Chareen Williams at Pro Football Talk writes that the Raiders have signed almost their entire draft class.

Some of us stil remember a time when the Bears used to be the first to get all of their picks signed. But Ryan Poles doens’t seem to buy into this philosophy.

That’s too bad. For fans, its nice to see your draft picks get under contract so you can stop worrying about the admittedly small chance that a hold out will ensue.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

Who wins the right guard spot out of camp? Will it be Nate Davis or will another player emerge? — @ebrown1481

This doesn’t look to me like a job that’s legitimately open for competition. Yes, every player has to compete for his job, beginning in the voluntary offseason program and carrying through training camp and preseason. But the Bears made a significant investment in Davis when they signed him a year ago to a three-year, $30 million contract in free agency. His $8.75 million base salary for this season is fully guaranteed, so I can’t imagine there are plans to potentially push him aside.

Davis wasn’t great last season and I think the Bears would say as much. His training camp was interrupted some because his mother was ill, and when she passed away early in the season, he missed time. The hope has to be with more consistent preparation this summer that Davis will be in a better spot when the season begins.

I have to agree here.

Although Biggs doesn’t mention it here, it’s been my assumption that Davis didn’t show up for voluntary work last year because his mother was ill. It will be interesting to see if he shows up for voluntary workouts this year.

I’d certainly like to see it given his under performance last year and it might not be a great sign if he doesn’t.

One Final Thought

Myles Simmons at Pro Football Talk on comments made by Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron about how they are bringing new Bears quarterback Caleb Williams along.

“I think for me, the things we’re pouring into him right now is just the understanding of the big picture of the game and all the intricacies and the nuances of, first of all, between college and the NFL and being able to start with that ground floor approach and build that repertoire of his up as we’re going,” Waldron said, via Josh Schrock of NBCSportsChicago.com. “For me, also being able to lean on [QBs coach] Kerry Joseph and the rest of the offensive staff, to me, this is always a collaborative effort, and it’s going to take all of us to help him along the way, and everyone has great individual strengths that they can bring to the table.

I have little doubt about Waldron’s ability to scheme up the Xs and Os and explain them to Williams. But as to the staff’s ability to do the other things that need to be done to bring a young QB along, I have my doubts.

In this respect, I’ve been thinking about the Bears offensive coaching staff.

• Shane Waldron, the offensive coordinator, is a former tight end who coached under Sean McVay, who undoubtedly did much of the quarterback coaching.  He worked with veteran Geno Smith in Seattle as offensive coordinator but has never developed a rookie.  He was a quarterback coach in name only one year in Los Angeles (2019).

• Thomas Brown, the passing game coordinator, is a former running back who has never been a quarterback coach.

• Kerry Joseph, the quarterbacks coach, was the assistant quarterbacks coach in Seattle.  Waldron states that he will be doing the majority of the coaching in terms of the actual detailed performance and technique required on the field. He has never been an actual NFL quarterbacks coach.

• Ryan Griffin is an offensive assistant who retired as a player only in 2022 and has little to no NFL coaching experience.

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p>Much has been made of supporting a rookie quarterback by surrounding him with talent on the field.  But my question is, who can they depend upon to coach him?