*The video above is an Aug. 10 recap of the Bears’ 24-24 preseason tie against the Miami Dolphins.
CHICAGO (WGN) — Look. It’s the preseason. The games don’t count, and the Buffalo Bills sat anyone of note against the Chicago Bears. But with that being said, man, did the Bears beat the brakes off Buffalo Sunday.
Sure, the Bills looked disinterested no matter the result, but there is still plenty to glean from Chicago’s 38-0 demolition of Buffalo at Soldier Field.
1. Caleb Williams looked decisive, but still needs work under center
Caleb Williams and the first team offense saw the field for two drives.
One was so crisp, Bears fans peed themselves in excitement from Tinley Park to Evanston and everywhere in between. Lifelong Chicagoans booked their plane tickets to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara and erected a solid gold statue of Caleb Williams outside Soldier Field overnight.
I’m only slightly joking when I say that.
The second drive was a parachute back down to Earth, but when Ben Johnson pulled Williams from the game in favor of Tyson Bagent, the numbers were sterling.
Six completions in ten pass attempts for 107 yards and one touchdown pass that went 36 yards to the house, courtesy Olamide Zaccheaus. The first drive took Chicago’s offense seven plays to go 92 yards in three minutes and 59 seconds.
Williams even successfully navigated past a holding penalty called on center Drew Dalman. It was the kind of stuff those who watch the team have anxiously hoped to see matriculate on the field for months.
But when I pulled back the curtains to take a deeper look, it revealed Williams still has plenty of room to improve.
I went back and re-watched his two drives with the first-team offense specifically to see how many times he lined up under center, compared to in the shotgun. Of 15 possible snaps (two were blown dead due to penalties), Williams lined up under center seven times and out of the gun eight times, meaning 46.7% of his snaps were under center.
All of his big passes—the 18-yarder to Colston Loveland, the 29-yarder to Cole Kmet and the 36-yard TD pass to Zaccheaus—came out of the shotgun.
At this point, we all know about Ben Johnson’s affinity for a balanced offense that features 12-personnel and other packages that have his QB operate under center. And he’s consistently acknowledged that it’s a work in progress when it comes to his QB and doing just that.
According to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin back in April, Williams had seven pass attempts under center in college, and 84 as a rookie last year, compared to 575 in the shotgun. His QBR was more than twice as high out of the shotgun (52) as it was under center (25), but he averaged more yards per attempt while under center and saw his sack percentage decrease by 2.1%.
Fast forward to Sunday, and Williams had four pass attempts under center against the Bills. He went 1-4 for 8 yards, with the one completion coming on the first play of the game. It was a play-action pass where Williams rolled to his right and hit Colston Loveland for an 8-yard gain.
I’m not trying to detract from his performance Sunday. Regardless of whether Williams was in the shotgun or under center, he was quick and decisive with his throws, and almost all of them were on time and in rhythm.
But how successful Williams is dropping back from under center is one of those little details to pay attention to. It will show how much he has (or has not) grown as the year progresses.
“We work on it. We practice it. We get after it. It’s something that’s going to be part of this offense,” Williams said. “So, being able to be on point, being able to have everything look exactly the same and be different is what we’re working on every single day. Shotgun or under center, it doesn’t matter.
“I think the guys up front did a great job protecting me. I think the guys in the backfield did a great job protecting me. I think the guys outside and tight ends ran great routes … So, there’s always something to get better from, me included, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
2. Defensive line generated pressure on most pivotal down
On the other side of the ball, the Bears’ turned one of their biggest struggle points from a year ago into a strength—converting timely pressure on the opposing quarterback into sacks.
If Chicago wants to turn things around this season, one of their ingredients will need to be creating more havoc in opposing backfields—especially on third down.
On two separate occasions Sunday, their defense came up big and delivered.
Andrew Billings forced a Buffalo punt after he notched a sack on third-and-9 two minutes and seven seconds into the second quarter. Then, Austin Booker notched a sack on third-and-5 on the very next drive—his fourth of the preseason, which leads the NFL.
Both sacks halted the Bills’ drives, returning possession to an offense that scored touchdowns following each defensive stop—a major key in maintaining momentum that helped the Bears go from a 14-0 contest to a 28-0 blowout.
Chicago finished 2024 ranked 7th in pressure percentage (25.1%) and 11th in QB knockdowns (60), but they also ranked 15th in team pressures (142), 16th in team sacks (40), and 25th in QB hurries (42).
Individually, Montez Sweat led the defense with 5.5 sacks. Gervon Dexter had five. No one else had more than 3.5 on the defensive line.
If Sweat can return to his 2023 form (12.5 sacks) and the Bears can identify a Robin to play across from him (Dayo Odeyingbo, maybe?), Sunday’s sampler from Billings and Booker could point toward more pass rush positives to come.
3. The offense generated explosive plays
Another significant weakness in Chicago’s 2024 offense was their inability to generate explosive plays, particularly on pass plays.
According to Sharp Football Stats (SFS), the Bears finished 30th in explosive pass plays (40) last season. SFS defines an explosive pass play as a pass that results in a gain of 15 yards or more.
Chicago had ten pass plays of at least 15 yards on Sunday.
Johnson told the media postgame that the team’s explosive plays stemmed more from the players’ mindset on the field than from his playcalling.
“I would say it really had nothing to do with scheme. Really, all night it had nothing to do with scheme,” Johnson said. “It was all about our guys and how they wanted to play the game. We asked them to play clean football, which that’s what I was most proud of. That was No. 1.
“No. 2, we want to see these guys play fast. It had nothing to do with the scheme. It was all about these guys going out, playing fast, and executing.”
4. The offense’s pre-snap procedure was (almost) perfect
Speaking of execution, the Bears almost managed to pitch a penalty-free game before the snap.
Their lone pre-snap infraction came on their first drive of the second half. Tight end Stephen Carlson was called for a false start with 9:44 remaining in the third quarter, but that was it.
In 2024, Chicago finished tied for the fifth-most false starts (28) and illegal formations (6), and the 11th-most delay of game penalties (6) in the NFL.
Pre-snap execution problems have been a recurring issue throughout training camp, but that has been “by design,” according to Johnson.
Especially when it comes to preparing Williams to run the offense.
“We’ve challenged him. It’s been a lot, that was by design. If we struggle at all in the huddle, getting the play out, then yeah, the delays are going to pop up and that’s a little bit of part of the learning process and us growing,” Johnson said after practice last Wednesday. “But by design, we’ve made this very challenging and hard.
“We know what we need to do as a staff to alleviate some of that pressure. I think Week 1 we’re going to be in a good spot.”