Caleb Williams and the Bears won without an offensive touchdown against the Titans on Sunday — just as Justin Fields and the Bears did against the Vikings last Dec. 16 at U.S. Bank Stadium, winning 12-10 on four Cairo Santos field goals.
Except Williams was making his first NFL start and in the Bears’ first game in Shane Waldron’s offense against the Titans. Fields was making his 33rd NFL start and the Bears were in the 29th game of Luke Getsy’s offense against the Vikings last year.
So while Williams was a disappointment in the opener, failing to meet even modest expectations in his first game, the honeymoon is far from over. Williams passed for just 93 yards and had a 55.7 passer rating against the Titans, but he gave his defense and special teams a chance to bail him out by avoiding turnovers and letting the other quarterback make the stupid mistake. Will Levis’ ill-advised backhand flip that Tyrique Stevenson intercepted and returned 43-yards for a touchdown was the game-winner in a 24-17 victory. Usually it’s Bears quarterbacks learning those hard lessons.
Williams didn’t find a way to win, but winning found him — and for Bears fans who have been tormented by Aaron Rodgers’ pluck for years, there’s something to be said for that. Williams had a pass that deflected off a helmet into a pop up — right to wide receiver Rome Odunze. And when Odunze fumbled, guard Teven Jenkins was there to recover it. Most Bears quarterbacks only get that kind of luck when they don’t need it or it doesn’t matter.
Williams was not very good in his NFL debut, but for one day at least, the Bears had a quarterback who’s living right. Williams won without an offensive touchdown and the offense producing just 148 total yards. The last Bears quarterback to pull off that feat was Bernie Masterson in 1938 — a 2-0 victory over the Packers in a driving rain at City Stadium in Green Bay.
The rough opener did nothing to shake this team’s belief in Williams. “A couple of times he came to the sideline — he may have been frustrated with a throw or something,” safety Kevin Byard said, “and [I] said, ‘We’ve got your back. Don’t even worry about it.’ I kept reminding him … ‘Y’all are going to make a play to win us the ballgame.’ It’s just a reminder to keep letting guys know that we got your back.
“Because that’s what a team is. Because I know for a fact there’s going to be a game this year that we’re going to need the offense to make plays for the defense. Because we’re going to [play] some high-powered offenses. We’ve got C.J. Stroud and the boys upcoming this week.”
Indeed they do. And therein likes the real challenge for Caleb Williams in Week 2 — raising his game against the team and the quarterback that set the bar for the Bears last season.
Stroud, the No. 2 pick of the 2023 draft, was the offensive rookie of the year last season, with a 100.8 passer rating (23 touchdowns, five interceptions) and 4,108 passing yards — a league-leading 273.9 per game.
His Pro Bowl season led the Texans from 3-13-1 in 2022 to 10-7 and the playoffs — with a first-year coach in DeMeco Ryans, a first-time offensive coordinator in Bobby Slowik and a roster no better than what the Bears have today.
It’s a fair bar for Williams and the Bears to clear. So in Week 2, the stakes have been raised. It’s up to Williams to push all-in and respond to the challenge.
2. It’ll be a big week for Waldron as well, especially considering the quick-fix Slowik pulled off in 2023 as a first-time coordinator who had never called plays before, and working with a rookie quarterback.
The Bears’ offense overall was even less impressive than Williams in the opener. There was no rhythm in the run game. Even with DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Odunze, there were few open receivers. The Bears’ longest pass play was 13 yards — the shortest long pass play in the league in Week 1.
3. How difficult is it to win with no offensive touchdowns and less than 150 yards of total offense? The last time it happened was in 2010, when the Steelers beat the Titans 19-11 with 127 total yards. Since then teams were 0-45, outscored by an average of 26-3 in that circumstance before the Bears won Sunday.
4. Williams had a familiar lament from rookie quarterbacks in his first NFL game — “I missed a few passes that I don’t normally miss.” Whether its nerves, adrenaline or the adjustment to the speed of the NFL game, accuracy often suffers early. Peyton Manning completed 56.8% of his passes in his first game (21 of 37) and 56.7% as a rookie. He improved to 66.1% over the next 15 seasons.
4a. But not everybody starts out that way. With a first-time coordinator in Slowik last year, Stroud completed 63.6% of his passes in Week 1 and 63.9% for his rookie season. Hmmm …
5. Keenan Allen averaged 95.6 receiving yards per game last season with the Chargers, but had just four receptions for 29 yards on 11 targets in his Bears debut — including a drop in the end zone. It was his lowest yardage total with 10 or more targets in his 12-year career.
6. The Bears’ offensive line remains a work in progress. Center Coleman Shelton struggled in the opener and right guard remains unsettled with Nate Davis and Ryan Bates rotating against the Titans.
The left-to-right combination of Braxton Jones, Jenkins, Shelton, Davis and Darnell Wright was the 19th different starting lineup and 43rd different combination in 35 games under Matt Eberflus.
With Davis and Bates rotating, the Bears have made 72 in-game changes on their offensive line under Eberflus and offensive line coach Chris Morgan. Maybe that’s why the center is tripping over the left guard — Bears linemen are always getting used to playing next to each other.
7. The Jim Harbaugh Watch: The Mike Ditka-nurtured former Bear is known for his fine touch with quarterbacks, but Harbaugh’s knack for establishing a quality running game was prominent in a 22-10 victory over the Raiders on Sunday.
The Chargers, who were 30th and 25th in rushing yards under Brandon Staley in 2022 and 2023, had 27 carries for 176 yards and a touchdown, led by former Raven running back J.K. Dobbins (10 carries, 135 yards, one touchdown).
With a rebuilt offensive line (two new starters and Trey Pipkins moving from tackle to guard), the Chargers had seven carries for 89 yards in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Raiders 13-3.
With the 49ers, Harbaugh inherited a running game that ranked 19th, 25th, 27th and 27th in rushing the previous years and ranked eighth, fourth, third and fourth in four seasons as head coach.
8. Quick Hits: Tight end Cole Kmet played just 27 of 56 snaps (48%) — his lowest percentage when healthy since the seventh game of his rookie season in 2020 (57 games ago). … Williams’ 55.7 passer rating was still better than Andrew Luck’s NFL debut (52.9) against the Bears in 2012. Luck had three interceptions and a fumble in a 41-21 loss. … The Bears averaged 3.9 yards on first down against the Titans — 26th in the NFL in Week 1. … In Getsy’s first game in 2022, they averaged 3.0 yards on first down — last in the league in Week 1. … Rookie defensive end Austin Booker played six snaps in the first half — including Tony Pollard’s 26-yard touchdown run — and none in the second half.
9. Ex-Bears Player of the Week — Running back David Montgomery put the Lions on his back in overtime — five carries for 45 yards and a game-winning one-yard touchdown run — in a 26-20 victory over the Rams. Montgomery finished with 17 carries for 91 yards.
10. Bear-ometer — 10-7: at Texans (L); at Colts (W); vs. Rams (L); vs. Panthers (W); vs. Jaguars in London (L); at Commanders (W); at Cardinals (W); vs. Patriots (W); vs. Packers (W); vs. Vikings (L); at Lions (L); at 49ers (L); at Vikings (W); vs. Lions (W); vs. Seahawks (W); at Packers (L).