CHICAGO — This year was supposed to be different.
The Bears drafted another quarterback in the first round, but this time they were ready for everything that meant and everything that was required for him to be successful.
They had a plan for No. 1 pick Caleb Williams — one that involved wasting no time making him the starter by sitting him behind a veteran stopgap starter as former Bears quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields experienced before him.
They hired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who had three years of play-calling experience and a role in the career resurgence of Geno Smith, in addition to being an extension of the coveted Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan coaching tree.
They had quality help in place for Williams with receivers DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, tight end Cole Kmet and running back D’Andre Swift — and then they added more by drafting receiver Rome Odunze with the ninth pick in the NFL Draft.
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They assembled a group of offensive linemen that general manager Ryan Poles considered the best and the deepest he’s had in his three years in charge of the Bears.
And the Bears had a win-now, takeaway-crazed defense with a growing swagger that was led by coach Matt Eberflus, who had seemingly won over the locker room with his core philosophies based on effort and who had turned heads with his new fade and beard.
So what the heck happened?
The New England Patriots — one of the worst teams in the NFL — came to Soldier Field on Sunday as 6 1/2-point underdogs and left with a 19-3 victory. They embarrassed the Bears. And the worst part was that rookie Drake Maye, the third QB taken in this year’s draft, played better than Williams, much like Jayden Daniels, the second pick, did two weeks ago.
An unfortunate reality is taking hold: Williams wasn’t as ready for the NFL as everyone thought, and the Bears weren’t ready for him, either. The No. 1 concern for the Bears front office now has to be whether Williams can survive and develop in the climate that he’s in, especially with six games remaining against Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.
With the Bears, things can always get worse. The Packers are up next.
“There’s OK teams, there’s good teams, and there’s great teams,” Williams said. “It starts with the players. Right now, we have an event, and it’s kind of what I go by in my life. We have an event, and … because you can’t always control the event, the most important thing is for us to respond. Our response equals the outcome, whether it’s good or bad or indifferent.”
Williams was 16-for-30 passing for 120 yards and a 63.2 passer rating against the Patriots. He was sacked nine times by a defense that had only 16 sacks in its first nine games. The Bears offense went 1-for-14 on third down against a defense that ranked 27th in the league on third-down percentage entering the week.
99 + 41 = the 5th Pats sack today ‼️
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/ppqt8toDbk
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 10, 2024
Part of that is on the Bears’ patchwork offensive line, part of that is on Williams for holding the ball too long and part of that is the result of a playsheet seemingly full of bad play calls. The Bears’ entire offensive operation is floundering, from their game-plan meetings on Tuesdays to their execution on Sundays.
Waldron must be removed as the Bears’ play caller, but that’s a temporary solution — a short-term change — for a team that’s just not as good as it thought it would be in early September.
“They’re not going to reinvent the wheel in a sense,” Williams said when asked about a potential change at play caller. “We’re midseason. It’s not a decision for me. I have to do whatever Coach says. I have to deal with whatever decision he makes and I have to be fine with it. Will I be able to adapt? Yes, I will. We will be able to adapt to whatever decision he makes and then from there, we have to go out there and execute and win games.”
The Bears are beat up with injuries. Once Teven Jenkins left the game with an ankle injury, the offensive line consisted of left tackle Larry Borom, left guard Doug Kramer, center Coleman Shelton, right guard Ryan Bates and right tackle Matt Pryor.
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But Waldron’s offense is broken with or without its starters. Injuries can’t be used as an excuse when the Bears haven’t scored a touchdown in their last 23 possessions, the longest active streak in the NFL. That’s the result of having a rookie quarterback but also the massive mess around him.
“This game was a great learning experience for me with some of these situations that I could have done better, for sure,” Williams said. “And then other than that, I’d say we just got to get better with execution. I think regardless of whether the play is good, bad, indifferent. Whether we had people down or anything like that, we’ve got to go out and execute.”
Finding a new play caller would be the first step. But more changes likely would follow. A familiar story appears to be unfolding in Chicago, one that was supposed to be different but one that Williams is living through much like Trubisky and Fields did before him. Things always change for the Bears, but the results rarely do.
So here we go again.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
