BALTIMORE — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams threw an interception deep in his territory in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but equally damaging were some earlier missed opportunities and self-inflicted wounds.
It was Williams’ second consecutive game with an interception and without a touchdown pass.
The Bears had cut the Ravens lead to 16-13 and gotten the ball back in the fourth quarter when Williams threw a short pass over the middle intended for Rome Odunze. Nate Wiggins stepped in front of Odunze for the interception and returned it to the Bears 9-yard line.
Two plays later, Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley found tight end Charlie Kolar for a 10-yard touchdown pass and a 23-13 lead.
“He undercut the route,” Williams said of Wiggins. “I could’ve led (Odunze) farther out in front instead of trying to give him a shot right here (in his chest). (Wiggins) made a great break on the play. Just unfortunate where we were on the field in the situation.”
But one turnover doesn’t necessarily make a loss.
The Bears mismanaged a promising drive late in the first half, struggled in the red zone and committed 11 penalties for 79 yards.
“You see flashes of some explosive plays and some really good things happening,” coach Ben Johnson said, “but the penalties, to me, is what stands out first and foremost.
“We still have some of the pre-snap issues where there is occasional not getting lined up quite right. There is occasional not getting the motion quite right. That stuff adds up, and it hurt us.”
Said Williams: “We’re either not scoring (or) converting in those moments. We could’ve been up 14 in those first two drives. … That would’ve created a bunch of momentum for us.”
Williams orchestrated 13- and 11-play drives for 64 and 56 yards to open the game, but the Bears settled for field goals and a 6-0 lead before Huntley, filling in for Lamar Jackson, led the Ravens to 16 unanswered points.
Mike Green sacked Williams for a 9-yard loss on third-and-goal at the 5 on the opening drive, and the second drive stalled at the Baltimore 22 with two straight incompletions.
The Bears were 1-for-3 in scoring touchdowns on trips to the red zone. They entered the game tied for 21st in the league in red-zone touchdown percentage at 50%.
“That’s the first thing on my mind: red-zone efficiency,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “We’ve got to come away with six (points) instead of field goals. That comes back to bite us.”
Added Williams: “That’s how it’s been a good amount of the year, especially these past two games, being in the red zone a bunch (and) not necessarily being able to punch it in at a high rate.”
The penalty problem also reared its head from the outset.
“They keep showing up,” Swift said. “We’ve got to eliminate that.”
The Bears started their first drive 10 yards back because of Josh Blackwell’s holding penalty on the opening kickoff return. Not long after, tight end Colston Loveland committed a false-start infraction on third-and-1 from the Baltimore 8, though the Bears picked up the first down.
In the second quarter, Williams was tagged with two intentional grounding penalties, both of which arguably cost the Bears better shots at field goals.
One of those came on the final drive of the first half, which was spoiled in part by poor clock management.
On the second play of the drive, Williams scrambled for 22 yards to the Baltimore 44-yard line, but he slid inbounds, forcing the Bears to take a timeout with 49 seconds left. Williams then connected with Olamide Zaccheaus on a 5-yard gain, but Zaccheaus was tackled well within the field of play.
As seconds ticked away, the Bears scrambled to the line to get off a play. Williams faced pressure up the middle and threw to the left sideline in Odunze’s vicinity, but a late flag came in and Williams was charged with intentional grounding.
The Bears not only suffered a 10-yard loss to the 49, they took their final timeout to avoid a 10-second runoff. Williams completed a 9-yard pass to Colston Loveland, and the offense hurried off the field.
The field-goal unit rushed on, and Cairo Santos’ 58-yard attempt fell short.
“The intentional grounding certainly didn’t help,” Johnson said. “So now we were in a position (where it was) third-and-long with no timeouts, where we know if it is a clock running and we are short of the line to gain, that we will need to get our hurricane unit — our field-goal team — out there really quick.
“I thought the execution of all that was nice, but that is a really long field goal. It’s a low-percentage deal. (It’s) something that we would like to avoid.”
Williams explained where the breakdowns occurred.
“The intentional grounding, (I) just wasn’t on the same page with Loveland,” he said. “It was a choice route, so this isn’t anything about Loveland. … He has a couple different options to break in, sit or break out. Just wasn’t on the same page, and that comes with reps.
“I could’ve gotten out of bounds also (on the 22-yard run). We want to talk about managing and things like that, that’s a part of it. … It just comes down to connecting, being on the same page and executing the plays that are called.”
Finally, down 14, the Bears were marching on a fourth-quarter desperation drive, thanks to DJ Moore’s one-handed grab and 42-yard gain to the 3. But Williams threw an incompletion, Devin Duvernay was stopped at the 1 after a short pass, Williams was stuffed on a quarterback sneak and he missed Moore all alone in the back of the end zone.
The Bears — who lost rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III in the third quarter for evaluation of a possible concussion — had to lean on Williams’ arm. They rushed for 96 yards after producing 145 and 222 on the ground in the previous two games, both wins.
Williams completed 25 of 38 passes (65.8%) for 285 yards with no touchdowns and the one pick.
“We’ve all got to do better, not just him,” Swift said.
Loveland agreed: “It’s the same thing every week, just shooting ourselves in the foot. Whether that’s penalties, missed assignments, whatever it is. … I got some plays out there, false start and some other stuff. Can’t have (that).
“We’re just going to come back into work tomorrow, watch the tape, clean it up and go from there.”
Williams said the lesson from this game is to find a way — via preparation through the week and during the game — to get into the end zone by any means.
“We’ve got to find a way to stop the bleeding when you start bleeding,” he said. “I can do a better job with that, helping out and leading these guys.”