Ben Johnson details what encouraged him from Caleb Williams’ Week 8 performance and it shows the offense is on the right path
The Chicago Bears passing game started to look more explosive in Week 8 loss.
Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens was far from perfect for the Chicago Bears offense and the team will have a lot to clean up this week before hitting the field in Week 9.
Head coach Ben Johnson notably took issue with the amount of reoccurring mistakes and pre-snap penalties that continue to show up on a weekly basis, even calling out the leaders in the locker room to get that area fixed moving forward.
From the outside, quarterback Caleb Williams took a lot of heat following Sunday’s loss. And while he made some bad decisions in the worst possible situations, Johnson noted he was still encouraged by Williams’ overall game. While talking to reporters on Monday, Johnson went deeper into some of the areas Williams showed positive steps forward.
“He was very efficient with the football there early in the game,” Johnson explained. “I thought he had a number of throws that were on time. We hit a couple in-breakers, that was encouraging to see as well. We were explosive in the passing game… so I thought he did a good job delivering that football. There’s a couple that, as we talked out, need to be automatic here at this point halfway through the season that we missed on. We’re going to keep on working through that process.”
The good from Caleb Williams
As Johnson pointed out, Williams started the game hot. He went 4/4 on the opening drive of the game, including a big conversion on 3rd-and-6 before the drive was derailed by a sack on 3rd down, forcing the offense to settle for a field goal.
As far as the explosive plays go, this was Williams’ best game of the season when it came to hitting downfield throws. On passes of 15+ air yards, Williams went 5/8 after having four such completions in his previous two games combined with some big boy throws to wide receiver Rome Odunze that really stood out on the tape.
Working off play-action, Williams completed eight of his 11 passes for 97 yards, averaging over 12 yards per completion. Over the last two weeks, Williams completion percentage off play action (87.5) actually ranks fourth among QBs with 5+ attempts.
Being able to consistently hit those chunk plays off play action is what can make this offense more deadly once the run game operates like it did in Weeks 6-7. Coming away with seven points instead of three inside the red zone more consistently as an offense can help with the run game staying on schedule, which is something the unit struggled with on Sunday.
The bad from Caleb Williams
Situational football is where Williams struggled the most against the Ravens. Johnson specifically mentioned four plays Williams made that turned into negative moments for the offense.
The first came on Williams’ 22-yard scramble just before halftime. It’s not the play itself, it was actually encouraging to see Williams use his legs to extend the play, it’s the fact that he stayed in bounds at the end of the run forcing the team to use a time out.
Two plays later, Williams and rookie tight end Colston Loveland had a miscommunication with a choice route that led to an intentional grounding penalty, forcing the Bears to attempt a long field goal that came up short going into the half.
In the second half, Williams interception early in the fourth quarter was the biggest mistake he made in the game. Williams, himself, thought he made the right read forcing the ball to wide receiver Rome Odunze, but Johnson noted on Monday that he would have liked to see Williams check the ball down.
On the final drive, Williams had another miscommunication with wide receiver DJ Moore on fourth down to seal the loss. Moore found space in the back of the end zone but settled in a spot. Williams felt like Moore was going to keep moving and threw the ball far right thinking Moore would continue to run past the linebacker in coverage.
Overall, the mistakes (while major due to the situation) were fixable for Williams and weren’t has prevalent as many thought when fully watching the game back. Those learning moments are critical for Williams’ development but the positive steps forward were indeed encouraging to see.
Chicago Bears News
Bears rookie receives the worst possible news following Week 8 injury, putting even more pressure on the defensive front
Chicago Bears second-round pick Shemar Turner suffered a torn ACL in Week 8 loss.
