Caleb Williams’ return for the Bears reminded the NFL of how dangerous this offense can be at full strength
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams showed no limitations in his first game back from a hamstring injury, leading the offense to another 30+ point outing against the Atlanta Falcons.
I don’t think there was any doubt that Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was going to return on Sunday and play at a high level for this offense, especially after watching how things went the week before against the Green Bay Packers.
Williams was chopping to get back on the field after his three-game absence and made it known talking with reporters on Thursday that once he returned, there was going to be no limitations to his game coming off a significant hamstring tear.
“I walked in (head coach Ben Johnson’s) office (earlier in the week), dapped him up, and said, ‘Let’s get this thing going this week,’ and I walked out after that,” Williams told reporters after the game.
The Bears certainly got that thing going again on offense against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, scoring 31 points including four touchdowns in the redzone after entering the week ranked last in redzone offense. It was great to have Williams back, and it reminded the NFL of how dangerous this offense can be.
Caleb Williams was nearly perfect in his first game back
From the first drive of the game, Williams was playing lights out. He started the game 12/12 passing, his most completions to start any game of his career, and finished the game 30/36 passing with 305 yards and one touchdown. The 83.33 completion percentage was the highest mark of Williams’ career and the best in franchise history from a quarterback with 35+ pass attempts.
“I felt confident from the jump,” Williams said. “When I get out there, I’m going to feel confident in my leg, in myself, and in my guys and the O-line. So I just let it rip, let these guys go make plays for us, get first downs, and score touchdowns.”
Williams noted the plan was for him to rip it on Sunday and do the majority of his work from inside the pocket. He still was able to scramble and throw on the run like his usual self, but he only had three rushing yards on four attempts. We know he can be just as dangerous for this offense with his legs, but that’s not something that was needed in this game.
I don’t think it had anything to do with the injury or anything like that. If anything it might have just been a cautious gameplan. We’ll see how Williams feels this week after playing a full game in his return, especially with a short week coming up before facing the New England Patriots on Thursday night. But, it was a very encouraging first game back.
This Bears’ offense has the potential to still be very very good with Caleb Williams
Look at it this way, when the Bears have a healthy Caleb Williams at quarterback and the offense isn’t facing Brian Flores in a monsoon, the Bears are now averaging 45.0 points per game. And that includes Williams’ first game back after a major injury.
Any doubt about how dangerous this offense can be should be buried after this game. This is a very very good unit when Williams is on the field and the Bears proved that on Sunday. And that still wasn’t even this unit at its full potential after the self-inflicted errors that still showed up in this game.
“We had some penalty issues early in the season, cleaned them up significantly the last few weeks, and this one spiked again,” Johnson explained. “I’m not going to let one poor game define us, you have to see a trend before making rash moves. We’ll look at the tape, lean on our scouting reports, and play cleaner football.”
Once the Bears clean things up, and get the last few pieces back from injury, the rest of the league better watch out. This offense is capable of scoring serious points with Williams back on the field, and he’s coming for blood.
