Caleb Williams did play for the Chicago Bears on Sunday. He didn’t play well for three quarters, but it’s another data point for his rookie season.
It might be easy to forget about Williams because we’ve — understandably — spent most of the past 48 hours or so talking about Hail Marys, penultimate plays and handoffs to offensive linemen.
(And while going through the All-22 angles of the 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders, with a focus on Williams and the passing game, I did spend way too much time watching and rewatching the Hail Mary. It’s amazing how many things went wrong.)
Williams got off to a miserable start, completing just four of his first 16 passes. At halftime, he had 33 yards passing. He did finish strong. In the fourth quarter, Williams was 6-for-11 passing for 95 yards, an EPA (expected points added) per pass of 0.35 and four passing first downs.
The Bears were 2-for-12 on third down. Williams completed only 2 of 7 passes on third down. His accuracy was off. There seemed to be a couple of miscommunications with receivers. And the pressure definitely got to him. The Commanders blitzed on 41.9 percent of Williams’ dropbacks, per TruMedia, the highest percentage of the season against the rookie QB.
Let’s look back at a few of those key misses, and finish with a couple of clutch plays from Williams, from Sunday’s loss with help from the All-22 camera angle. (All screenshots courtesy of NFL Pro.)
Lacking usual precision
In Weeks 4-6, Williams completed 74 percent of his passes. It’s a hallmark of his skill set. But it wasn’t there on Sunday.
“Definitely missed a few passes that I don’t miss typically, and so it is tough,” he said after the game.
On third-and-10 from the Washington 41 in the first quarter, Williams went to his first read — an out route to tight end Gerald Everett. The throw was high and out of reach for Everett.
Now, I don’t know if Everett ran the right depth on his route or if the timing was off. I’m confident in saying this wouldn’t have gotten the first down even if completed, but it might have either gotten the Bears close enough to field goal range or given them an opportunity to go for it on fourth down.
Washington had close coverage on the three Bears receivers. Coach Dan Quinn dialed up an exotic stunt with his defensive linemen, but Williams wasn’t necessarily under pressure. This could’ve been an instance that Matt Eberflus referenced postgame of the quarterback not going through his progressions.
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Earlier on the that drive, Williams did go through his reads, which created two open receivers. He made a pump to the out route to Keenan Allen. That got Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu to bite, and tight end Cole Kmet and wide receiver Rome Odunze were both open.
Williams saw it, but his throw to Odunze was off the mark and behind the rookie wideout. Again, it’s unclear if he thought Odunze was supposed to stop his route sooner, but either way, this would’ve been a chunk gain.
Backed up inside their 10-yard line in the third quarter, the Bears had third-and-7. Allen is in motion before going up the left sideline.
Williams goes to him, but his throw is either a back shoulder, or he’s expecting Allen to have driven toward the sideline.
The back shoulder was there, but the two didn’t seem to be on the same page. If you watch the play, you’ll see a very frustrated DJ Moore, who looked like he wanted a flag thrown against Commanders cornerback Benjamin St. Juste for holding.
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Early in the fourth quarter, after back-to-back botched screen attempts, Williams airs it out on third-and-10. Odunze breaks inside, but the throw is to the sideline and his outside shoulder. It’s well out of reach.
Williams does get hit on this play — guard Teven Jenkins suffers an injury as rookie defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton bowls him over and gets to Williams at the end of the throw. But the Bears otherwise did OK against a Commanders blitz. Roschon Johnson did a really nice job picking up Bobby Wagner (No. 54). Coleman Shelton held up Luvu (No. 4) and the tackles sent the edge rushers behind Williams, who was more than comfortable staying in the pocket.
This is a very “easy for me to say from the comfort of my desk chair” moment of: Did Williams have more time to look at Moore’s in-breaking route? Or Allen? And was there a miscommunication between him and Odunze?
There’s also a question about the play call here. The Bears were at their 41-yard line. It was the best field position they’d had, matching the previous drive when D’Andre Swift scored his touchdown. Was there an opportunity for a shorter route to set up a manageable fourth down?
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Washington brought the heat
Clearly Quinn watched the past three games and decided to throw a lot at Williams with that 41.9 percent blitz rate. He had his second-worst EPA per pass of the season (-0.23).
Left tackle Braxton Jones’ injury didn’t help, thrusting rookie Kiran Amegadjie into the lineup for his first NFL snaps on the offensive line.
Three plays stood out as far as the pressure making things difficult for the Bears’ passing game. We start late in the second quarter with 1:11 to go.
The problems begin before the snap. Williams is clapping as Jenkins turns to look at him, hands in the air as if he doesn’t know what the call is. Johnson also is looking for clarity from the running back spot.
This is a third-and-12 from the Washington 25-yard line. The Bears still have two timeouts left. They’re in field goal range to, at a minimum, cut the lead to 9-3. Why not call a timeout when sensing the confusion? That’s for Williams, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and Eberflus.
Instead, the ball is snapped as the group isn’t ready. Luvu (No. 4) is rushing against Amegadjie, and Johnson is late to help as Luvu beats the rookie around the edge. Johnson began the play eyeing the inside rushes before turning to Luvu.
By the time Williams hits the top of his drop, no one is open. He’s looking to his left, where Moore is bracketed. Maybe the play would’ve been an anticipatory throw to Odunze, running a comeback route to Williams’ back side, but that would’ve been a tough throw.
The rookie QB exacerbated the issue by trying to escape, taking a 15-yard sack and knocking the team out of field goal range.
“I have to be better. I got to get the ball out of my hands,” Williams said. “I have to throw it out of bounds in that situation, and that is the toughest part about the job is you want to go out there and make plays and do special things, but you also have to understand that’s a play … we get those three points and we get some momentum.”
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Remember that third down from the Bears’ 7-yard line? A second-down incompletion set it up. The Commanders rushed only four, but No. 99 Clelin Ferrell got around Amegadjie. There was an opportunity for Williams to move to his right, which he tried to do, but Ferrell chased him down, forcing an incompletion as Williams was dragged to the ground.
Deep in their territory, it was interesting that the Bears sent both Swift and tight end Marcedes Lewis on routes on this play and chose not to help Amegadjie on the edge.
Later in the third quarter, back-to-back penalties turned a third-and-2 at midfield into third-and-12. Allen got a step on his man, but the throw was out of reach.
It would’ve been an impressive completion if Williams hit Allen there for the explosive gain, but it’s a play we’ve seen him make before. It probably didn’t help that he was about to get hit — or at least he felt the pressure.
Washington sent only four, but defensive end Dorance Armstrong was able to get between Amegadjie and Jenkins on his path to the quarterback.
The optimistic view
One thing Kmet stressed after the game was that the Bears came back from two scores down in the final quarter to take the lead in a game they should’ve won.
That doesn’t usually happen around here.
With just under nine minutes left, Williams hit Kmet for 14 yards, then threw a beautiful deep ball to Moore for 27 yards and a sidearm pass to DeAndre Carter that should’ve led to a touchdown, had Waldron dialed up just about anything other than what he did — a handoff to Doug Kramer.
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On the next drive, completions of 16 yards to Odunze and 22 yards to Allen got the Bears into the red zone.
Odunze started out before cutting in on his route, creating separation easily as he moved toward the middle of the field.
Armstrong rushed inside on right guard Matt Pryor and Williams did a nice job sliding to his right to create the throwing lane. Amegadjie handled Dante Fowler Jr.’s rush, too.
One more play to highlight, and we go back in time to the second quarter, one of the few positive moments for the offense in the first half — and on third down, no-less. It was third-and-5, and Odunze started in before breaking out toward the sideline. His route running has been impressive, and he clearly fooled his corner.
The blitz pickup was also crucial. Johnson did a great job against Wagner. Shelton put Luvu into the ground. Amegadjie kept Fowler from getting near Williams, too. That allowed Williams to let Odunze run his route and then make the throw for the first down.
Those are promising things ahead of a matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. A few notes about the Week 9 opponent:
• The Cardinals rank 27th in the league in sacks per pass attempt.
• Their third-down defense ranks 32nd.
• Opponents are averaging 7.63 yards per pass. That ranks 29th.
• Opposing quarterbacks have a 101.4 passer rating (27th) against Arizona while completing 71.7 percent of passes (30th).
• Arizona’s pressure rate, per Pro Football focus, ranks 30th.
What better way for Williams, and the Bears, to get back on track? Granted, the Commanders have similar stats but are much better at sacking the quarterback. It will be a big opportunity for Williams to be the one to get the Bears out of this mess.
(Top photo: Geoff Burke / Imagn Images)
