IN SPITE OF A SHAKY WILLIAMS, BEARS WIN WITHOUT HIM: DEFENSE, SIMONE BILES
Without a franchise quarterback for decades, Chicago won without Caleb Williams, who missed open receivers and looked lost on opening day, with immense help from Tyrique Stevenson and Jonathan Owens
The expressway traffic will be strangled, but the Bears didn’t need a quarterback to win their first game of the Caleb Williams era. The Curse? He missed an easy deep ball for a touchdown and had Keenan Allen drop another. He shook his head often and threw too many tipped passes while being sacked into lakefront-dom. He walked into Soldier Field in a beanie and plaid shirt, with temperatures at 65.
They overcame a 17-0 deficit against the Tennessee Titans because Simone Biles’ husband, Jonathan Owens, recovered a blocked punt and returned it for a 21-yard touchdown, before cornerback Tyrique Stevenson picked off a nutty Will Levis throw and scored from 43 yards. At some point, those of us in the know wondered about Bill Belichick — the best defensive coach of our time, winner of six Super Bowls in New England — and why he isn’t fond of Williams. “Well, he wasn’t accurate, he was 10-for-20. There were a couple of highlight plays, but they weren’t that good,” he said about a preseason game.
Yet the Bears won anyway, 24-17, only because the defense and special teams rescued Williams from a national trashing. This is the way it will be, when the first overall draft pick struggles after wandering into a city that hasn’t had a franchise quarterback since the 1940s. He looked dazed, not ready for the game plan and too hyped about a historic assignment within a charter NFL franchise. Maybe the media fanboys can stop chirping about his powerful arm and his relationship with teammates and start wondering when he’ll locate professional synchronicity with head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Until then, we’ll wonder how the Bears posted their first victory since 2006 with a minimum of yardage (148), with no offensive touchdowns, somehow putting them in a first-place tie in the NFC North thanks to the other side of the ball.
“It was a frustrating game. But the most important thing is that it shows a bunch of the personality of this team, I would say — the fight, the resiliency we had,” Williams said. “Didn’t perform the way I wanted to. I missed a few passes that I normally don’t miss, all these other things. So I think there’s small things that always lead up to big things that makes games a lot closer.
“Don’t care about stats. I feel great. We’re going to enjoy this win. Going to dinner with my family, hang out with them. From there, get back into it and get ready to do. We’re going to be better next week. I have to be better. I will be better.”
At dinner, no one was declaring this a Williams victory. Biles was wearing Chicago paraphernalia, not that of the Green Bay Packers, and Stevenson was helped in the final seconds by All-Pro cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who pounced on a receiver and then ended the game with an interception. Caleb? Welcome to Chicago. Welcome to the NFL. Welcome to a division where forgotten Sam Darnold, another ex-USC quarterback, dominated with the Minnesota Vikings. Everyone has loads of work before next Sunday, when the Bears head to Houston for a matchup with C.J. Stroud that could be far above Caleb. For now, they’ll shriek with Biles.
“I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK,” she wrote from the stands.
Somehow, Williams prevailed, after previous No. 1 picks finished 0-14-1 in their first starts since 2002. His numbers: 14 of 29 for 92 yards with a dreadful 55.5 passer rating. Justin Fields, dumped by the front office, won a surprise first start in Pittsburgh with 156 yards passing and 57 more on the ground and no turnovers. Let them complain on the talk shows. He must find a better relationship with his receivers and line, after a day when he held onto the ball too long. Doesn’t it sound familiar in the City of Weak Shoulders, as Carl Sandburg did not call it? They have time, but not much when Jordan Love will miss several weeks with the Green Bay Packers, meaning the Bears need their quarterback to get a clue.
“When you start a rookie quarterback, which we were doing, he’s going to have ups and downs, and good moments and other moments. So we have to just play well around him,’’ Eberflus said. “Make sure the operation’s clean. Make sure we won’t turn the ball over and give people short fields and free plays. It’s OK to end the series with a kick. He is a talent. He’s smart as a whip and knows the offense. We’ve just got to keep playing well around him as he grows, reinvests and improves. He’s going to learn a lot these first three or four games in terms of the NFL looks, the NFL speed.’’
“It’s one hell of a team, a team full of dogs,” Stevenson said. “It’s going to be them helping us out. It is what it is. We still got the win. I’m happy for the boys.”
Said Owens: “It felt amazing. Going back to the sideline, all the guys are excited for you. The defense is excited. The energy from the stadium is just rolling in. It didn’t feel like real life.”
Williams walked off the field with a ball held above his head, saluting the fans. Next time, score with it, as Tyreek Hill did after he was arrested for speeding before a Miami Dolphins game. You thought Williams was the league’s biggest story? “I still don't know what happened,” Hill said after MIami won 20-17. "But I do want to use this platform to say, ‘What if I wasn't Tyreek Hill?’ Worst-case scenario, you know? ... Everybody has bad apples in every situation, but I want to be able to use this platform to figure out a way to flip this and make it a positive on my end and Miami-Dade and do something positive for the community. It's hard. I don't want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do. What if I wasn't Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what those guys would have done. I just wanted to make sure I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you're in a situation like that — put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen.”
At least the Bears avoided police conflict. The question becomes whether they fit in with Williams, who was brilliant throughout most of a college career, or whether he must fit in with an organization that hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 1986. He wants to create hysteria with his arm and legs. They want him to fit into a scheme and hand the ball to D’Andre Swift and find Allen, D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze, all of whom missed catches and also were missed by Williams. Against other opponents, the Bears would have lost. Let’s see if he remembers that as he performs Lego projects at home.
He keeps talking about Aaron Rodgers, who was wincing as he watched in a hotel room. “He's special, he knows everything defensive-wise, he's seen everything and obviously when things don't go his way, when a play breaks down, he goes and makes insane plays,” Williams said. “Being able to be a complete QB is what everyone dreams and aspires to be, it's something I'm working my hardest to be, to the most complete that I can be, and play this game from above the shoulders and when the play breaks down. It's time to go make magic.”
Magic hasn’t happened yet. “I hope it doesn’t take time for Caleb,” said Rodgers, “because I like Caleb.”
We’re beyond the liking part. It’s time to wake up. And remove the beanie.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.