Life with a rookie quarterback is tough. But the Chicago Bears‘ inability to protect Caleb Williams made it even harder against the Texans in Sunday Night Football, with the team losing on the road 13-19.
The Texans hit Williams early and often. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans threw the kitchen sink at the Bears rookie, and the combination of a shaky offensive line, uncreative attack, and quarterback inexperience led to a long night at the office for Williams.
During a post-game interview, Williams appeared dejected, pointing to a long list of things he felt most frustrated about.
The Bears lost to the Texans 19-13 on Sunday evening. After the game, Caleb Williams talked about what bothers him most about the loss
“Not coming out with a win,” Williams said, in response to a question of what bothered him most when it came to Sunday’s game. “Not executing. We needed to as a team. Myself throwing two interceptions is not something that I’ve done, something that I do.”
Williams has thrown for just 267 yards through two games, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. During Sunday night’s loss, Williams was sacked seven times, hit 11, and pressured on 23 of 48 dropbacks. Williams was pressured 36 times, and non-Williams runners gained 1.6 yards per carry.
“If we’re going to keep getting better, everything is about the responses,” Williams said. “Just get better at practice, get better everyday, attention to details, things like that.”
As the Bears look ahead to their next game in week three, here are five takeaways from the Bears loss to the Texans Sunday night.
Williams is still a Rookie QB
It has taken just two weeks for the “best situation ever for a No. 1 overall pick” to look like a toxic safety hazard that could damage Williams’s development instead of accelerating his takeoff.
“When it finally connect and well in the same cylinder, it’s going to be good,” wide receiver DJ Moore said after the loss. “Right now, we’re building a puzzle together. Until we get that puzzle fully complete, it’s going to be an up-and-down road.”
Every member of the Bears’ offense knew it would take time for Williams to get comfortable and find a groove. But the product the Bears’ offense has put on the field in their first two games is troubling. There has been zero vertical passing game, the protection is abysmal, and the mental errors and missed assignments are piling up.
REPORT CARD: Grading Caleb Williams, Bears in loss vs. Texans
The Bears’ offensive ineptitude doesn’t fall at Williams’ feet. Sunday was his second career NFL game. The whole idea behind what the Bears built was that it would make it easy for Williams to settle in, steady himself, and start to grow.
So far, none of that has been true, and it will be hard to fix it overnight. The Bears don’t have one thing to clean. Everything needs to get better and fast.
“We got to be better around him,” tight end Cole Kmet said after the loss.
Lack of O-Line support
A lot was expected from this Bears’ offense. The hype was through the roof entering the season. But through two games, it looks like your normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill Chicago offense.
Williams will improve as the reps pile up. His development won’t take off if the rest of the Bears’ offense doesn’t support him in the way that he needs.
That starts with an offensive line that was the weak link in the Bears’ grand Williams development plan being able to keep pressure off him for longer than one second. That starts with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron not only devising a plan to get Williams comfortable early but also finding a way to best utilize all the Bears’ weapons. (There was so much DeAndre Carter and Gerald Everett on Sunday it would have made the 2022 Chargers blush.)
There needs to be more schemed plays for Moore, more attacking the seams with Kmet, and more moving the pocket.
“We got a lot to work on,” Kmet said. “The reality of the NFL is kind of sitting in with us offensively. We got to regroup here.”
The regrouping has to begin immediately and it’s a task that will fall squarely on the shoulders of Waldron and the Bears’ veteran leaders.
No Run Game
After averaging just 3.8 yards per carry against the Titans, the Bears spent the week harping on the need to find an efficient and clean running game.
If they found one during the week of practice, it didn’t make the trip to Houston.
In the first half, the Bears rushed for just 18 yards on 11 carries (1.6 yards per carry). Williams led the Bears with 9 yards on two carries, while D’Andre Swift had 6 yards on seven rushes.
The Bears’ offensive line was once again bullied at the point of attack on the interior and the edges, as they could not move the ball on the ground in the first half.
The Bears finished the game with 22 carries for 71 yards, but Williams led the team with 44 yards on five carries. Chicago abandoned the interior run game in the second half but that’s not a sustainable plan of attack going forward. The Bears have to find a fix for this leaky offensive line quickly, or else Williams’ rookie year will be even rockier than expected.
Defense does its job
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud got off to a hot start, but the Bears’ defense made the necessary adjustments at halftime and kept the Texans’ high-powered offense parked for most of the second half.
The Bears’ defense finished with three sacks, four quarterback hits, six tackles for loss, and forced a fumble as the Texans were going in for the kill shot in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Matt Eberflus’ defense did everything possible to carry Williams and give the Bears a chance to win the game. But the game-changing plays that allowed them to steal the game against the Tennessee Titans in week one didn’t arrive this time.
With an offense that was sputtering once again, the defense did its job for most of the night and gave them a chance to win the game.
The Bears’ defense held the Texans’ offense in check throughout the second half and even gave Williams the ball back with 1:37 remaining to drive for the win.
This was a defensive performance that signaled the Bears’ unit is ready to go to the top and can frustrate and fluster the best offenses in the NFL.
They just need the offense to come along and help.
Who’s fault is it?
It’s fair to criticize both of Eberflus’ challenges, especially the second one, which cost the Bears a precious timeout they could have used as Williams and the offense tried to drive to tie the game.
They were bad challenges, and that needs to get cleaned up.
But it’s offensive coordinator Shane Waldron who is now under the microscope after two straight offensive duds.
The Bears can’t run the ball and there is zero vertical passing game right now.
Per ESPN Stats and Info, Williams is 0-for-11 with two interceptions on throws that travel at least 15 yards downfield.
There are very few easy throws to get Williams into a rhythm, and the third-down and short-yardage plays lack creativity and seem to make life harder on Williams.
Waldron has a reputation of being a great play-caller who works to the strengths of his personnel.
We haven’t seen that yet.