People wondered if Caleb Williams might be irreparably broken after two brutal showings against Arizona and New England. He kept taking sacks, looked skittish, and didn’t have any confidence in the offense. The doubts were creeping in despite recent evidence a few weeks ago that he had more than enough ability to impact games. It appears he was out to prove something on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Everybody expected him to fold under the pressure. Instead, Williams was their best player on the field.
He completed 74% of his passes for 231 yards and had 70 yards rushing. What really stood out is he saved his best for when it mattered most. Chicago fell behind 20-19 with three minutes left. Then Williams was sacked twice in a row to start the next drive. What followed was three of the best passes of the season. He hit Rome Odunze for 16 on 3rd and 19 to set up 4th and 3. He hit Odunze again for 21 yards to enter Green Bay territory and finally hit Keenan Allen for 12 yards to reach field goal range.
There was a chance for more with 35 seconds and a timeout left. Instead, Matt Eberflus opted to run the ball and settle for a 46-yard field goal. It was blocked.
Caleb Williams has been robbed of two thrilling comeback wins.
Both by his head coach. People forget he also made some money plays in Washington to give the Bears the lead with 25 seconds left. Eberflus’ defense then proceeded to let the Commanders reach midfield with questionable calls and allowed a touchdown on the final Hail Mary play. Losing games is one thing. Losing them to a Hail Mary and a blocked field goal after some gutty 4th quarterback comeback drives is much worse. That said, the underlying meaning behind all of this should not be overlooked.
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Despite the heartbreaks, Caleb Williams is showing the critical trait of executing and moving his team down the field late in games when they need points. He’s done it twice now in the past four weeks. You could not say this about guys like Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky. Both have career passer ratings below 80 in the 4th quarter. Williams sat at 88.1 going into Sunday. That figures to improve after what he did at Soldier Field.
The entire offense for the remainder of the year should just be Caleb standing there screaming at Eberflus from the field of play. It worked on that one fourth and three.
@jmscooby The run game worked better yesterday because QB1 was picking up yards on the ground via both designed runs and off-script plays. When QB1 demonstrates a willingness to run the ball effectively, it opens up lanes on the interior. OL, QB1, and the OC (and, of course, the RBs) all deserve credit for that.
I guess I missed the rule change that says 4Q points count for more than points scored in other quarters.
(Also, and I can’t believe I even have to write this here, but CHI did not score in the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game. Caleb made one explosive play in 4Q: A 21-yard pass to Odunze that gave Tom Brady a nice, rubbery one. That’s not good enough.)
I agree with @BearCub30 and @TWTY in that Caleb is the future. At this point, he’s more important than anyone on the coaching staff, and the only players that come close are Jaylon Johnson, Montez Sweat, and TJ Edwards. He’s not the best player on the team yet, but that’s coming. Also, it’s clear to me that another run by Roschon Johnson would have helped the FG attempt. Never mind Santos’s percentages at distances, the key was that on the 54 yard kick, he barely made it over the crossbar, perhaps by seven feet. Kickers like to see the ball… Read more »
CW has also kept the INTs down, which is impressive to me. Especially in this stank offensive season. Give credit to the OL, we were able to run the ball. I know our QB gets sacked a lot, but he seems to limit the yards lost better now than earlier in the season, but ICBW.
We need a heady, sound tackling, ball hawk at safety to limit those 2 big plays.
We have to solidify the middle of the field on both sides of the ball.