Caleb Williams, Bears shows a new day is dawning in Chicago

October 13, 2024

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Caleb Williams, Bears shows a new day is dawning in Chicago

If the Bears played like that each On Sunday morning, Chicagoans could start their week with a bounce in their step and a song in their heart. Hey, if the Bears played like this every Tuesday at midnight local time, the fans would be tired but ecstatic.

In these regions, a Bears win against any team is enjoyed at any time because success has been so fleeting for so long.

That’s why Chicago’s 35-16 rout of a woeful Jacksonville team at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a very welcome start to the day for anyone whose luck depends on the Bears (4-2), who enter a bye week with a wave of football ecstasy.

Breakfast with the bears never tasted so good.

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All eyes, as usual, were on rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who overcame a bad early interception and had four touchdown passes to go with 226 passing yards and 56 rushing yards. Veteran receiver Keenan Allen had two touchdown catches, as did veteran tight end Cole Kmet, who was also forced into emergency long-snapper duties.

Let’s talk about the latter for a moment.

I don’t know if a Bears player has ever caught a touchdown pass while snapping long, but I did find two related Kevin Fishbain-esque fun facts.

Long snapper Patrick Mannelly caught one pass in his 16-year career and it came on a trick play by Brian Urlacher, of all people, in Champaign, Illinois.

After a fake field goal in the second quarter of a 34–21 loss to the Packers on October 7, 2002, Mannelly found himself in a swinging gate formation as center and was unable to retrieve a pass on the ball. Bears linebacker, who got the ball on a flea flicker from receiver Marty Booker.

“Worked great in practice,” Mannelly told me.

As for other long snappers with touchdowns, in a cursory search I came across Hall of Famer Clyde “Bulldog” Turner, the all-downs legend of the 1940s who served as the team’s long snapper, as well as center and linebacker. . On December 3, 1944, Turner ran for a 48-yard touchdown in a 49-7 victory over the Card-Pitt combo team of World War II. I guess he broke that game off too.

Back to the present, Kmet’s double duty day early in the game became necessary because long snapper Scott Daly was injured. Kmet did a decent job, although his shot was a bit high on Cairo Santos’ missed field goal in the fourth. We will pass that on to Kmet.

Story from the sidelines by Cole Kmet—

Richard Hightower: “Hey Cole, Scott’s hurt.”

Kmet: “Tyler Scott?”

Hightower: “No, Scott Daly. You have to understand long.

Kmet: “Oh… oh shit.”

— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) October 13, 2024

In all three phases, the Bears played a strong all-around game, erasing a moribund start that you (or at least I) thought the Jaguars would steal in their home away from home.

But Williams led the offense to five touchdowns for the second straight game and the Bears’ defense forced two takeaways and held their opponent under 20 points for the fifth time in six games. The outlier? When the Colts won 21-16. Defense travels, of course. Jacksonville helped the Bears with eight penalties (the Bears had two for 10 yards) and by playing largely uninspired football.

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Before you start praising Super Bowl rooms in New Orleans, some important context to keep in mind is that the Jaguars stink and their pass defense is terrible, just like Carolina, who torched Williams the week before.

And as good as the Bears’ defense has been, it’s getting beat up. Defensive back Jaquan Brisker did not make the trip to London with a concussion and Kyler Gordon left Sunday’s game early with a hamstring injury.

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Conversely, the offense looks pretty good. Maybe coordinator Shane Waldron doesn’t have to look for an agent just yet. While Waldron (and to some extent head coach Matt Eberflus) have the most vulnerable jobs, Williams is scrutinized more than any other young quarterback in the league simply because of the context of where he is stationed. Bears QB ranks right up there with Browns QB as a cursed position and Williams is the third rookie the Bears have tried at the position since 2017. And being the No. 1 overall pick comes with its own set of pressures and history.

Williams raised some eyebrows around the league when he got off to a slow start, but he has shown why he could be very different from his local predecessors. In his last four games, he threw for 1,050 yards with nine touchdowns and three interceptions (only one in the last three games). The eye test will tell you that he looked good and sometimes great. His interception trying to get deep to DJ Moore in the first half was negated by all of his nice throws, none of which were better than Allen’s second touchdown catch.

shout out to the 18% of people who started Keenan Allen this week pic.twitter.com/FG79iiUCxa

— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) October 13, 2024

Mitch Trubisky set the Bears rookie record with 2,193 passing yards (in 12 games) in 2017. Williams should have that beat before Thanksgiving. Charlie O’Rourke passes Chicago’s rookie TD record of 11, set in 1942, and Williams is just two away from tying it.

Being the Bears’ best starting quarterback of all time is just the first (small) step to bigger goals. But it was a joy to watch him develop in real time.

Now the good and bad news for Williams and the Bears is that the easy part of the schedule is over. After the farewell, they play the Commanders in suburban Maryland. Williams, born in the DC era, versus Jayden Daniels is the headline there. Next up, the Bears have a road game in Arizona and a home game against the Patriots before a treacherous six-game stretch against the NFC North (which includes a road game against the 49ers). That’s where we’ll learn what Williams and the Bears are made of.

But for now, Chicagoans can relax and, for once, feel some joy that there is still a lot of Bears football left to play.