Thirty-five days removed from their last loss, the Chicago Bears were undeniably thrilled Sunday afternoon inside an energized home locker room at Soldier Field. Four-game winning streaks are not to be taken for granted in Chicago, which hadn’t enjoyed one of these surges since 2018. Thus Sunday’s never-trailed victory — a 26-14 takedown of the New Orleans Saints — was not being brushed aside or muted.
But, particularly for a work-in-progress offense, Sunday’s celebration came with a bit of frustration. An acknowledgement that there’s a long way to go to get this mess cleaned up and all the offensive knots untangled.
Hence, some of the Bears’ conflicting emotions.
Man, it feels good to be here — at 4-2, with realistic playoff aspirations, with improvement efforts turning into production and with a belief inside the locker room that the offense hasn’t come close to reaching its potential.
But …
Buckle in.
“I didn’t play well today,” quarterback Caleb Williams confessed to the objection of absolutely no one.
For much of the day, Williams seemed out of rhythm and, at times, was quite literally spinning himself in circles, trying to evade pressure and find completions.
For the first time this season, Williams didn’t throw a touchdown pass and didn’t top 200 passing yards. His 61.7 passer rating was his lowest since Week 17 of last season. His first-quarter interception on a deep out to wide receiver Rome Odunze was a mistake.
“We weren’t efficient enough in the passing game,” coach Ben Johnson noted. “We’ll see why that was.”
Johnson referenced all the sloppiness of his offense to date, exemplified Sunday by six more penalties, one turnover, two other fumbles and four stalled drives in six visits to the red zone.
“I was hopeful that, by Game 6, we would play cleaner football than that,” Johnson said.
Thank goodness for an awakened running game. After averaging 102.3 yards per game and 3.8 yards per rush before their Week 5 bye, the Bears have exploded in wins over the Commanders and Saints over the past week with 367 rushing yards and a 5.5 yards per attempt average.
D’Andre Swift has posted consecutive 100-yard rushing outings for the first time as a Bear and just the third time in his career. On Sunday, he went for 124 yards despite grinding into the weekend with a groin issue that left him limited in practice all week and, on the injury report, as questionable to play.
“It’s a scary sight for defenses to see,” guard Jonah Jackson said. “It’s hard to knock out the run when it’s on fire. We have to keep this up.”
Williams attributed the team’s spike in rushing production first to a collective mentality to get the job done but also to schematic tweaks that have allowed the Bears to use pre-snap movement to their advantage.
“When you start shifting and motioning and you have criss-cross (movement) when the ball is snapped also, that affects defenses,” Williams said. “And it puts people out of place.”
The Bears’ offensive line has been notably cohesive. The perimeter blocking has done its part, too.
Said center Drew Dalman: “It’s been part of our plan that our effort and execution is going to improve every week. And we’re going to get better and more familiar with each other and improve our technique. It’s been a product of that. But it’s really about all 11 guys on the offense doing their jobs and us executing.”
Sunday’s offensive mishaps included two botched center-quarterback exchanges near the end zone for Drew Dalman and Caleb Williams. (Mike Dinovo / Imagn Images)
Every NFL victory is to be deposited immediately without apology or regret. But it’s also clear Monday’s comprehensive offensive review at Halas Hall isn’t likely to feature streamers and party poppers.
“The benefit when you win,” Johnson said, “is you usually can coach a little harder. We’re always truth tellers, on Monday in particular. When it’s good, we’ll tell them when it’s good. When it’s bad, we’ll tell them what we’ve got to clean up.”
So yes, this “Victory Monday” will double as “Truth-telling Monday.” And the first truth that will be told is this: right now, the Bears are depending too heavily on an opportunistic defense, one that added four more takeaways to its league-leading total Sunday, spiking that number up to 16. That binge — with 15 of the forced turnovers during this four-game-winning streak — has been the engine for a season that suddenly holds significant promise.
But to become a complete team and a true playoff contender, the Bears’ offense must catch up, fully find itself and capitalize more frequently on all the opportunities the defense is providing. And for that to happen, Williams must play better.
Williams offered a longer self-review of his Sunday struggles, specifically detailing his ongoing issues throwing on the move and his abnormal hesitance to scramble for yardage when opportunities were there.
In addition, twice Sunday on two possessions, a botched center-quarterback exchange near the end zone contributed to a stalled drive. The first came on third-and-4 from the New Orleans 6-yard line in the first quarter, just six snaps after a Montez Sweat strip-sack and Gervon Dexter fumble recovery gave the Bears possession at the Saints’ 24.
Dalman’s third-down snap, though, caught his quarterback so off guard that the center never let go of the football, an oddly aborted play at a critical moment.
“That’s 100 percent on me,” Dalman said. “I won’t get into the specifics. But that’s 100 percent my error and something I’m going to get fixed. … It happened so fast. It’s more me being incorrect with what the cadence is.”
A similar hiccup occurred two quarters later, on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Dalman and Williams were so disjointed on the snap that the Bears center was called for double-clutching the football, a fortunate false start that actually bought the Bears three points instead of a turnover on downs.
Dead ball. Field goal. Sigh of relief.
Still, just too much ugliness.
“I can take that blame, (too),” Williams said. “Just because it comes down to cadence. It comes down to everybody being on one page and having everybody calm and understanding how we’re going to go execute this play.”
The Bears had five false starts in all Sunday, plus a long list of other missed opportunities as they converted their four takeaways into only 10 points.
Swift’s 11-yard touchdown run in the first half was a bright spot, finishing a 30-yard drive after a key Nahshon Wright interception and 38-yard return.
“That was one of those times we did a good job,” Swift said. “But the defense had four takeaways. I know we didn’t have four touchdowns.”
Johnson was asked how he would characterize his offense’s progress through six games and immediately used his right hand to simulate a series of rolling hills.
“Up and down,” Johnson said. “That’s what we’ve looked like. We haven’t hit our stride yet offensively. We’re capable of a lot more. We have very talented individuals. And I feel strongly about our coaching staff. But we’re just not complementing our defense on a regular basis.”
The optimist’s lens creates a wonderful world of imagination, with the Bears having already proved they can win consistently without playing their best football.
Just imagine. What will happen if the offense gets itself sorted out and finds a groove where it can regularly deliver the kind of game-changing moments the defense has been providing?
“It’s scary to think about,” Jackson said. “We shot ourselves a million different times and in every which way today. And we were still able to do what we did. Once we get this all cleaned up — and it will happen and we will get it done — we’re going to be in a great place.”
Added Swift: “I can’t wait to see what that looks like.”
An entire city is right there with Swift, hopeful that the Bears are on the verge of a significant competitive breakthrough. But first, the team must get back to work, back into the truth-telling forum where solutions and fixes must be found.
