Caleb Williams limped his last game.
The offense has done that over the past two weeks, and the Bears have no one to blame but themselves.
“Most things are your own fault,” the Bears’ starting quarterback said this week. “Penalties, inaccurate passes, the fact that we are not efficient in the running game contribute to that because then you get longer downs. … Going back to the passing game, just being more detailed with myself and the guys and executing. That’s what it comes down to.”
If it doesn’t happen on Sunday, it might not happen all year round.
The Bears, who have won nine straight home games, host a Patriots team that would draft first if the season ended today. The Patriots allow the 12e-most points and 25e-the most yards in the NFL, and only three teams have fewer sacks.
The Bears are a touchdown favorite, the largest margin of the Matt Eberflus era.
Williams is then set up to try to regain some momentum before the Bears begin an eight-game gauntlet that starts and ends with the rival Packers and includes all six NFC North games as well as games against the 49ers and Seahawks. The Bears’ remaining schedule is the toughest in the league, even with the Patriots on it.
The hope at the start of the season was that Williams would be ready for the toughest part of the schedule. However, his momentum is going in the opposite direction. In the last two games, he posted the worst passer rating and completion percentage in the NFL. The Bears led for exactly 25 seconds.
Williams has been great at times this season — the Bears scored 95 points in wins against three bad teams before the farewell game — but was far from the success story some expected when he inherited perhaps the most talented skill position players ever handed to him have been donated. a rookie quarterback took first overall.
True halfway points have been difficult to achieve since the NFL switched from sixteen to seventeen games in 2021. But among the 18 rookie quarterbacks who have since completed at least 50 passes in their team’s first eight games, Williams ranks in the middle of the pack. -away. He is eighth in passer rating, fifth in passing yards, 12e in completion percentage and tied for second in touchdown passes. No one has been fired anymore.
“I think it comes down to details and execution that hold us back,” Williams said.
The season is no longer in its infancy. The Bears can’t lament the lack of details like they did during training camp. That’s up to Williams, who has battled uncharacteristic bouts of inaccuracy, and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. The play caller’s decision to hand off the ball to offensive lineman Doug Kramer at the goal line against the Commanders might have cost the Bears the game. His inability to move the ball at all in the next game was even more troubling.
Williams looked primed for success last week, but the Bears managed just three field goals against a Cardinals defense that ranked 26th.e in rushing yards allowed and 27e in passing yards allowed.
Williams instead became the first rookie ever to throw the ball at least forty times, be sacked six or more times, and fail to throw a touchdown.
Williams limped off the field after being compromised by Eberflus, who insisted on keeping the rookie in the game despite two backup tackles blocking him after a blowout. That Williams’ ankle appeared to be fine – he didn’t miss a minute of training this week – was the only thing that kept Sunday’s defeat from being one of the most disastrous in recent history at Halas Hall.
Bears fans have seen enough false positives over the years to be wary of whatever Williams does on Sunday against the league’s worst team. The more relevant question is how the game prepares him for the Bears’ rival.
The Packers, always looming over Halas Hall, are waiting. Until then, the Bears have one more game to find a breakthrough.
“I think it would be huge, honestly, just for the atmosphere of the team as a whole as we get into the second half of the season – just taking that confidence into next week. …” said receiver Rome Odunze. “We see the schedule. We see that the teams we face in the second half of the season are doing great… We are in one of the toughest divisions in the league.
“We definitely know we have to get this one and be prepared for our ‘A’ game for the rest of the season.”
Williams must be proven right on Sunday. Because his path only gets harder from here.
“You start to get a rhythm, you get momentum – and from there you’re on an upward trend,” Williams said. “We have to start working on that this week.”