The Chicago Bears bring a four-game winning streak — their first in seven years — to Baltimore this week for Sunday’s game against the Ravens.
While a rejuvenated running game and opportunistic defense carried them to a Week 7 victory against the New Orleans Saints, quarterback Caleb Williams appeared to take a step back. As Williams nears the midpoint of his second season, the Tribune’s Brad Biggs breaks down Williams’ progress in the weekly Bears mailbag.
Before the season started, many claimed a successful Bears season should be measured by whether Caleb Williams proves to be the long-term solution rather than by the team’s win/loss record. The season is closing in on the halfway mark. Do you think the coaching staff feels any better about Williams as the long-term solution than it did before the season? — Jim A., Plymouth, Minn.
Coming off what was, by any measure, a rocky game for Williams, there were a lot of questions about him, including some wondering if he’s close to playing at the level expected from a No. 1 draft pick.
I chose this question because it gets at the bigger picture of the season, goals for the franchise and more. My first reaction is an awful lot of football remains to be played — 11 regular-season games. Provided Williams remains healthy, that means he’s a little more than one-third of the way through the season.
My second reaction is the coaches are not stepping back on a weekly basis during the season and taking a wide-lens look at the big picture. They’re dialed in on that week’s opponent, the specific game plan and what can be done in practice to sharpen individual skills.
Of course, we’re afforded the luxury of taking time to examine overarching topics in the mailbag and other articles, and for me anyway, that’s preferable to examining each game in a vacuum and being a hot-take artist who gets caught up in the moment. There’s a fine line between reaction in the moment and overreaction.
Williams has shown growth in many meaningful ways since training camp opened. He has been really good on third down (a 105.8 passer rating). He has been excellent in some game-on-the-line situations, and his rating in the fourth quarter is 108.6. He has continued to minimize turnovers. The takeaway binge the defense has been on wouldn’t be as impressive if the Bears also were playing giveaway.
Williams has done a better job of playing within the structure of the offense. He has done a much better job of avoiding pressure and taking unnecessary sacks. The Bears’ 5.5% sack rate is 13th-best in the NFL and a little more than half of last season’s unsightly 10.7% mark that ranked last in the league by a wide margin.
Yes, Williams had nowhere to go but up in that department, and there’s still a long, long way to go in terms of reading his progressions and operating on time. No NFL quarterback can be elite if he can’t win regularly as a pocket passer, and this is where Williams has work to do. He also needs to improve pre-snap in terms of timing and cadence. No, the false-start issues are not all on him, but he plays a part and has owned that.
The remainder of the season is huge for Williams. He has shown growth and reacted favorably to direct messaging and coaching from Ben Johnson and his staff. The Bears would love to be in a position by the end of the season where they feel 100% confident in Williams as the starter for a bright future for the offense. They’re not at that point, and one big game Sunday against a Baltimore Ravens defense that has been in tatters wouldn’t accomplish that. It would be a nice step, though, no doubt.
I believe the Bears remain encouraged by the prospect of Williams’ development, but he and the team have a lot of ground to travel to get to a point where everyone wants to be. It can be difficult to evaluate at times because the bar for quarterback play in Chicago has been so ridiculously low for so long. That’s one reason a subset of readers couldn’t accept the reality early — and even late — in the Justin Fields era that he wasn’t going to be the guy.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, speaking to reporters at an owners meeting Tuesday, lambasted Fields with his team 0-7.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got,” Johnson said. “He has the ability, but something is not jiving. If you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you are going to see similar results across the league.”
Johnson went on to say, “If we could just complete a pass, it would look good.”
What’s truly wild about Johnson’s remarks is they’re probably more damning to the team’s front office and offensive coaching staff than anyone else. The Jets are the ones who gave Fields a two-year, $40 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. It’s fair to wonder if this situation has reached the point of no return. But, hey, the Jets are another team with their own never-ending quarterback search.
Williams is far more advanced than Fields was with the Bears. He’s not at the point you can say the Bears have their long-sought solution at the position. A lot of football remains to be played this season. A good structure is in place with the coaching staff, and the roster around him is certainly good enough to give him a fair shake to succeed. You couldn’t say that about every quarterback that came before Williams.
Let’s allow the season to breathe and see what shape things are in come the end of the season, when hopefully Williams has 34 starts under his belt.
When was the last time a Bears quarterback made 23 consecutive starts? Seems like it hasn’t happened in a generation. — @barbersquires
Williams made his 23rd consecutive start Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, which moved him past Mitch Trubisky for what I believe is the fourth-longest streak for a Bears quarterback in the Super Bowl era.
Jim Harbaugh started 27 consecutive games: the entire 1991 season and the first 11 games of 1992 before Mike Ditka benched him for Peter Tom Willis in a game in Green Bay. Vince Evans made 26 consecutive starts: the final 10 games of 1980 and the entire 1981 season.
The franchise record in the Super Bowl era is held by Bob Avellini, who made 42 consecutive starts beginning with the final four games of 1975. He started all of the 1976 and 1977 seasons and the first 10 games in 1978.
Williams’ durability has been a major plus as he closes in on the midpoint of his second season. It will be a significant factor if he can hunt down 4,000 passing yards this season. After a down game against the Saints, Williams has 1,351 yards, which puts him on pace for 3,827. It would take only one big game or two good ones to get him back on pace to become the organization’s first 4K passer in a single season. But he likely would have to play in all 17 games.
How much has the return of T.J. Edwards and Kyler Gordon been a factor in the improved run defense? — @plubard
A lot. You’re talking about two players who most of the time, depending on where nickel cornerback Gordon is aligned, are front-seven defenders. Gordon has played in the last two games, while Edwards missed the season opener, played the first half plus one snap of the third quarter in Week 2 in Detroit, missed Weeks 3 and 4 and has been on the field for the last two games.
Along with improved play on the defensive line, Edwards’ impact has been the biggest difference maker for the run defense. Just look at the numbers with and without him.
- Without Edwards: 93 rushes, 575 yards, 6.18 average, 2 touchdowns
- With Edwards: 62 rushes, 251 yards, 4.05 average, 2 touchdowns
It will be interesting to see how the run defense holds up Sunday in Baltimore. The Ravens have been boom or bust with their ground game this season, and obviously having a healthy Lamar Jackson at quarterback makes their rushing attack much more versatile. Jackson didn’t practice Monday, and his availability will be important to track this week.
The Ravens have games with 238, 169 and 179 rushing yards, and then there are weeks when they really struggled with 45, 85 and 44 yards. Derrick Henry had a huge Week 1 game against the Buffalo Bills with 169 yards and two touchdowns, then went through a slump before totaling 122 yards last time out against the Los Angeles Rams without Jackson.
Henry rushed for 128 yards on 29 carries with one touchdown in two career games against the Bears when he was with the Tennessee Titans.
“Man, he’s a big, physical runner,” said Bears defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett, who went against Henry when Garrett was a Cleveland Browns assistant. “Fast. Dynamic player. Hard runner. Tough. All of the above and everything you’d want from a running back, he has it. It’s a challenge for sure.
“He’s a unique athlete. He’s a special talent and has been for a long time. It’s all 11 to stop him. You’ve got to rally to the ball on those guys. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”
Seemed odd that Braxton Jones had a great game against Dallas and then was benched after getting demolished by a great player in Maxx Crosby. If Theo Benedet struggles for a few more games, would they go back to Braxton or would it be Ozzy Trapilo’s turn? Do they just know what Braxton is at this point? — @gregfeltes
I don’t know that anyone would say Jones was “great” in any of the early games. Thought was given to spelling Jones here and there in some games before Darnell Wright went out with a right elbow injury in the Cowboys game.
Jones did not struggle against Crosby in Las Vegas. Crosby was almost exclusively lined up over the right tackle. The Bears moved Benedet to left tackle in the second quarter of that win, and he started there the last two games. Benedet has added a little to a running game that has been primarily right-handed. He has been a little up and down in pass protection, which probably isn’t unexpected.
“It’s inconsistent, to say the least,” Ben Johnson said Monday when asked about Benedet’s play. “He had a couple false starts mixed in there. Run-game-wise, he did some good things in terms of moving guys (against the Saints), but probably wasn’t as clean as it could be. And then in pass pro, (Saints defensive end) Chase Young got after him just a little bit more than he had liked as well.”
I didn’t take this to mean Benedet is on a short leash. He’s an inexperienced player and the Bears know there will be ups and downs for him. He has a heck of an opportunity and some huge challenges lie ahead on the schedule.
“We need all of our guys to perform at a high level for us to move the ball, score points on offense, win games as a team, and so the evaluation process always goes on,” Johnson said. “If there’s someone that’s not pulling his weight, then we’ve got to make a decision there.
“But, no, I think he’s going to continue to get better with the more reps that he gets. And, that wasn’t a slouch that he was going against (Sunday) on most of those snaps and I think he’s going to continue to get better.”
I don’t see the Bears going to a Plan C — returning to Jones or giving Trapilo a shot — at this point. Jones has been working as the No. 2 left tackle in practice. Could that change? Sure, a lot of football remains to be played, and Johnson has made it clear he and his staff will be nimble as situations arise, probably more so than previous staffs at Halas Hall.
But the Bears don’t want to get into a revolving door at left tackle before the midpoint of the season. Benedet needs time to develop and has to prove his arrow is up. He tends to get a little off balance at times in pass protection, and I’d imagine that’s something they’re working to clean up.
What’s your take on the ridiculous number of penalties (second-worst in the NFL) the Bears take each game? I would think bad teams with poor coaching would have this issue, but the Bears are neither. — Steve R.
It has been a recurring issue for the Bears, and you’re correct, they are the second-most-penalized team in the league, averaging 8.83 penalties per game. Only the Jacksonville Jaguars are higher at 9.29. It’s something Ben Johnson has been asked about repeatedly and again after the Bears had 10 penalties for 92 yards in the win over the Saints.
“Generally speaking, I don’t put too much stock in how the game’s officiated,” Johnson said. “There’s things beyond our control. We’re going to coach it up as well as we possibly can, and over the course of those 60 minutes, we just stay consistent. Some calls are going to come our way, some aren’t, and we’ll keep it moving.
“If I feel like there’s something we don’t have clarity on, then I’ll stay away from some of those play calls that might give us a bad spot or something like that. There are some things over the course of the first six weeks that we need a little clarity on from the league in terms of how we can coach it better. That’s what we send in. Other than that, we don’t talk a whole lot during the game about it.”
Of the Bears’ 53 penalties, 18 have come pre-snap on offense. They lead the league with 14 false starts plus another four of various types. Assuming they can tidy that up — a focus since the spring — the penalty numbers should come down.
As egregious as this may seem, they’re not far off. Consider the league average is 7.1 penalties per game. If the Bears knock off two a game, they would be below league average.
It’s also of note that they lead the league with five roughing-the-passer calls. I think it will come back around, but they have to play cleaner football across the board to fall out of the top 10 in penalties.
Is the improved running game and stopping the run just a product of playing bad teams? — @rynelancer
No. Is it a factor? Sure it is. But the Washington Commanders had the league’s No. 1 rushing offense when the Bears went to Landover, Md., and did a pretty darn good job controlling the ground attack, especially running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt. The Bears also had the worst time imaginable trying to stop the Las Vegas running game, and the Raiders hadn’t had any success in their early games.
It’s still early in the season, so you’re going to see swings in the rankings. The Bears went from having a tough time running the ball through their first four games to being eighth in the league now, averaging 129.3 yards per game. The statistical rankings throughout the first half of the season can swing quickly. What the Bears hope is to see improvement across the board in the coming weeks.
The Bears run defense has been substantially improved the last two games. How much of this can be attributed to Grady Jarrett being sidelined by injury with Andrew Billings starting in his place? Jarrett has been invisible thus far. He has one solo tackle on the season and I’m wondering if the Bears would consider shutting him down for the season given the improved line play in his absence. — Mark D.
That’s pretty harsh. Jarrett was injured in the season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings. With the exception of a torn ACL in 2023, he was a model of durability for the Atlanta Falcons, and that’s one reason the Bears were comfortable signing him to a three-year contract that basically guaranteed this season and next.
Initially, Jarrett attempted to play through the injury. He had one practice and was limited before the Week 2 game in Detroit and then was DNP, limited and full in the three practices leading up to the Week 3 game against the Cowboys. It was evident Jarrett wasn’t at full strength, and you’re accurate, he wasn’t involved in a lot of plays. He did have two quarterback hits against the Lions and one against the Cowboys.
After the Dallas game, it’s my belief Jarrett had a minor procedure on his right knee, and he was held out until being limited in Friday’s practice before being inactive against the Saints. We’ll see where he is on the practice reports this week as the Bears gear up for a trip to Baltimore. Jarrett is still a little hobbled when he walks.
The Bears want to get him back on the field, but they want him to be right so he can be the disruptive player they imagined in the middle of their defense when they signed him. Yes, the run defense has been better the last two weeks, but the Bears were flat-out trampled in Week 4 in Las Vegas without Jarrett. Billings is a situational player for the Bears in base situations. He has been a little better the last few weeks.
I don’t think it’s fair to pass judgment on Jarrett until we see a healthy version of him on the field.
No real question here, but can we give Ryan Poles some props for grabbing Jake Moody on waivers? Eight of nine field goals including a game-winner and no missed extra points. — John B.
Poles and the front office deserve some credit here. The Bears did not claim Moody on waivers. They signed him to the practice squad before the Week 2 game after he had cleared waivers. He remains on the practice squad. The Bears have used two of a maximum three game-day elevations for him the last two weeks.
Teams cannot flex a practice squad player to the game-day roster more than three times in a season. So if Moody is needed for more than three games, the Bears would have to consider another option: carrying two kickers on the 53-man roster or potentially placing Cairo Santos on injured reserve. I think they’d like to avoid the latter.