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.