Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on Week 2 loss, Caleb Williams

HOUSTON — As discombobulated as the Chicago Bears were on offense Sunday night — and it was messy for sure — they were at midfield with just over a minute to play and a chance to spring the upset on the Houston Texans before a loud crowd at NRG Stadium.

That doesn’t lessen the impact of the 19-13 loss or make it any easier to clean up what is wrong right now for the Bears — and there’s a lot to fix for a team that should consider itself fortunate to be 1-1 — but Matt Eberflus’ team was right there with a team in the mix of AFC clubs that will be chasing Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. That was thanks almost entirely to the defense and some handy work by rookie punter Tory Taylor.

Here are 10 thoughts on the loss and where the Bears are with a nonexistent run game and no ability to create explosive plays in the passing game.

1. The Bears have not reached a crisis mode. Not yet.

Perspective is difficult to come by in the immediate aftermath of an ugly game, but I’m going to try to frame this in the realest possible way. They’ve got a major dilemma staring them in the faces and they’re in the HOV lane speeding toward a crisis if they can’t get things sorted out on offense quickly.

The problem in the season-opening win over the Tennessee Titans was the interior of the offensive line had a difficult time handling Pro Bowl-caliber defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and his new running mate T’Vondre Sweat, who is an absolute load at 364 pounds. They’re not going to face another interior pair like that until perhaps late October when they play at Washington and have to deal with Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen.

The issue Sunday night was the Bears didn’t have an answer for longtime nemesis Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. on the edges. The interior struggled as well and the result was Caleb Williams running for his life with the ground game providing no support whatsoever. Basically, any opponent with any kind of talent on the defensive line presents a real problem for offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

The Bears have 355 yards of offense through the first two games, their fourth-lowest total to begin the season in the Super Bowl era:

• 1967: 254 yards
• 2003: 335 yards
• 1982: 337 yards
• 2024: 355 yards

The offense is averaging 2.97 yards per play — the lowest total through two weeks for the franchise in the Super Bowl era. The offense’s struggle to successfully move the ball against the defense in training camp has hit and it’s a huge problem. The team has more talent at the skill positions than perhaps it’s ever had, and the offense has one touchdown and, again, is fortunate to be 1-1 and only one game behind the Minnesota Vikings, who are getting positive early results out of quarterback Sam Darnold.

Running backs have carried the ball 33 times for 82 yards (2.48 average). It’s fair to wonder if this is a problem for which there is no true in-season solution.

For just the fourth time since the start of the 2015 season, the Bears surrendered seven sacks. Williams didn’t have it as bad as Justin Fields in his first road start at Cleveland in 2021, who was sacked nine times, but the rookie was under nearly constant duress. Since the sack became an official statistic in 1982, the Bears are 2-16 when allowing seven or more. The surprise is how close this game was. Twelve of those 16 losses were by 13 or more points because when you can’t keep the quarterback upright, it’s mighty tough to stay in the ballgame.

I wrote last week about how the confounding part of the victory over the Titans was that it was impossible to discern what kind of identity the Bears wanted to have on offense. That issue was only magnified here.

“It hasn’t been good,” said tight end Cole Kmet, who at least played more in this game. “Defense is playing really well. Definitely playing at a level where we should be winning games. That’s a good offense we faced. They did pretty well against them. We’ve got a lot to fix.

“It was definitely a little chaotic out there. Just a lot of things we have to work out. (Williams) is taking too many hits. We’ve got to run the ball better. I think the main thing is establishing an identity on offense. So we gotta figure that out. I think that’s what it comes back to. It will be sort of the challenge this next week and trying to establish that.”

Before the Bears can begin that task, they’ve got to prove they can be fundamentally better at the point of attack in the trenches and not get ransacked.

“The offensive line, everybody is going to talk about those types of things,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “I believe protection is everybody. Protection is the tight ends, runners, offensive line, it’s the quarterback. It’s everybody involved. So we’ve got to do a really good job with that. In terms of running the ball, we obviously want to run the ball better than we did. It was OK but not good enough. Not good enough. We’ve got to establish the run game. I think that’s always a good friend to a young quarterback when you can do that.”

The run game wasn’t OK. Williams had five carries for 44 yards. D’Andre Swift carried 14 times for 18 yards. Travis Homer and Khalil Herbert combined for three rushes for nine yards. The Bears got in second-and-long and third-and-unmanageable repeatedly and the results were predictable. Of the 17 third downs they faced, nine instances were third-and-9 or more. They had a delay of game penalty coming out of a dead ball. There were four false starts — two on right guard Nate Davis, one on right tackle Darnell Wright and one on tight end Marcedes Lewis.

There might not be an easy answer if you could point at one player or two and say, “There’s the problem.” But at least you would feel like the issue was sort of centralized and if the team didn’t have a personnel move, it could scheme to help a player or two. The issue, through the small sample size of two games, is across the board.

That creates a great challenge for the organization and general manager Ryan Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham, two former offensive linemen, are going to have to take a critical look at what is going on and what kind of solutions are possible. Keep in mind, there’s not a nice-looking list of unemployed and healthy offensive linemen who can play at a high level.

It’s not time to panic at Halas Hall, but it is time for some real talk and maybe some creative thinking to come up with ways for Waldron and the scuffling offense and begin to forge an identity. Teams go through tough points in a season. The Green Bay Packers were forced to play without quarterback Jordan Love. They limited replacement Malik Willis to 14 passing attempts as they ran the ball 53 times for 261 yards in a 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field on Sunday. They changed their identity and pounded the Colts, who the Bears play next at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“The level of frustration is high because we know what we are capable of and the type of team we have so there’s got to be some urgency to getting better,” Swift said. “I’m talking about myself first. I will look at the film and see what I could have done better.

“We can’t ask to be in a better situation as far as our defense played like that. They gave us multiple opportunities to take the game away. We just have to find a way to do it. Defense played lights-out two weeks in a row. We ain’t really helping them right now.”

Hunter, who had 3 1/2 sacks in two games against the Bears last season when he played for the Vikings, believes the Texans’ season-opening win prepared them for success against the Bears. Houston struggled at times containing athletic Indianapolis quarterback Anthony Richardson. Hunter believes that gave them better preparation for Williams than a week of practice did.

“After last week, playing a scrambling quarterback, there were some adjustments we had to make,” said Hunter, who had 1 1/2 sacks. “I know Caleb wants to scramble around. We did a good job keeping our composure when he did scramble. We stayed in pursuit and plastered in the back with the DBs.

“If you dissect the O-line, the quarterback can’t really do anything. One way to affect the quarterback is by beating the O-line and we did a pretty good job as a defense. I played them last year. Feel like some of the players that are still there, they still have the same tendencies. Just passed it on to my teammates. Might help them rush better. Maybe it did.”

Anderson, who also had 1 1/2 sacks, said stopping the runs on the early downs allowed the defense to hunt.

“Caleb is a very dynamic player with his legs and can make throws outside of the pocket and scramble really well,” Anderson said. “I thought we did a really good job of containing him in the pocket and making him be an in-pocket quarterback.

“Then, it was just putting pressure in his face. That is one thing we really wanted to do, man.”

I pointed out it was seven sacks.

“Yep,” Anderson said. “Seven sacks, 11 hits, 36 pressures. That’s one thing we practice a lot.”

NFL’s Next Gen Stats credited Houston with 36 pressures, an astounding total when considering Williams attempted 37 passes, completing 23 passes for 174 yards and two interceptions.

The Bears did a nice job of managing negative plays on their lone touchdown drive, which ended on a 2-yard run by Herbert. They overcame two false start penalties and Williams ripped a pass deep over the middle to DeAndre Carter that drew a pass interference call on third-and-14, — a 24-yard penalty.

But they simply could not sustain any momentum and were in really tough spots all night against a defense that, after playing Richardson, had an answer key for Williams and the Bears.

It’s going to be an easy test for opponents to take until the Bears can run the ball effectively and begin to get some explosive plays from the passing game. The whole thing starts up front and I will dive into some of the missing parts and what could be in the works here shortly.

2. Caleb Williams will be spending some extra time in the cold tub this week.

It’s a wise idea considering some of the big hits he took in the pocket and on the move.

But what hurts him more is that the Bears didn’t find a way to pull out a victory when the defense did its job, especially getting a fumble when defensive tackle Andrew Billings jarred the ball loose from running back Cam Akers and free safety Kevin Byard recovered at the Bears’ 3-yard line with 6:28 remaining. A touchdown for the Texans there would have effectively put the game out of reach.

“Not coming out with the win,” Williams said when asked what bothered him most. “Not executing when we needed to as a team. You know, myself throwing two interceptions, not something I’ve done, something that I do, is turn the ball over. Not really my thing. I think those things are probably the things that I’m most frustrated about.

“We didn’t execute the way we needed to and we’re going to keep getting better. Everything is about the response. It’s Week 2. I am understanding it’s Week 2, we’re going to respond and just get better every day, get better at practice, all the different things throughout the week. Attention to detail and things like that.”

Williams made some nice throws. He hit DeAndre Carter for a 14-yard gain on third-and-12 on the first possession that ended with a 53-yard field goal by Cairo Santos. DJ Moore made a nice move to avoid cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. for a 16-yard gain on third-and-3. He missed Carter on a corner on third-and-3 when he was open ahead of cornerback Kamari Lassiter.

Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams is’a little bruised up’ after 7-sack game in Week 2 loss

If it’s possible, Williams looked a little more in control than he did in the opener. But saying he had better timing when he was under constant duress is hard to do.

“Felt more in rhythm,” he said. “Felt more just body-wise and things like that, kind of changes the routine, changed the workout to be able to prepare and get ready for this game. Even on game day, changed some things around. So, body-wise was feeling good. Body-wise and delivery, all the different things were feeling good.”

He thought Moore was open on third-and-16 at the end of the third quarter when the receiver broke inside past Stingley.

“I knew he was 1-on-1,” Williams said. “I tried to give my guy a chance, and then the DB cut up.”

Said Stingley: “I knew the ball was coming to my side. I got outside (allowing Moore an inside release) so I could see the ball.”

It was a frustrating night for all involved. Moore was targeted 10 times and caught six passes for 53 yards. What was most frustrating?

“I don’t know,” Moore said before pausing. “Everything. We get the ball in good field position, we didn’t capitalize. But that’s on us. We gotta go out there and execute the plays that are called and do our thing and when our 1-on-1 matchups.

“When we finally connect and we’re all in the same cylinder, it’s gonna be good. Right now, we’re still building, what can I say? We’re building a puzzle together. Until we get that puzzle fully complete, it’s gonna be up and down.”

OK. Well, what piece is missing from the puzzle?

“Just everybody being on the same page and being consistent,” Moore said. “Not having flags every other play and just going out there and winning.”

While the Bears search for that missing puzzle piece — and it’s more like pieces — Williams can heal up.

“I’m a little bruised up,” he said. “I took a couple hits. I’m going to get in ice tubs and do all the things I need to do to make sure my body is ready for (Monday) and practice the other days and obviously the next game.”

3. The improved depth Ryan Poles worked to assemble on the offensive line is being tested and, yes, that happened much sooner than anyone hoped. It’s razor-thin right now.

The Bears placed Ryan Bates on injured reserve Saturday afternoon, five days after Matt Eberflus suggested Bates and Nate Davis would continue to rotate at right guard against the Texans.

Bates is the second lineman to go to IR, joining Larry Borom, who suffered a right ankle injury in the preseason finale at Kansas City. The Bears have nine linemen remaining on the 53-man roster and three have never taken an offensive snap in a regular-season game: rookie tackle Kiran Amegadjie, center Doug Kramer and Bill Murray, who got three snaps on special teams with the New England Patriots in 2022.

For the time being, Matt Pryor is the lone backup with experience. The 29-year-old has 24 starts in his career —14 for the Indianapolis Colts in 2022 and 2021 combined and 10 in 2020 for the Philadelphia Eagles, where Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham was working at the time.

With Bates and Borom on the shelf, that creates an iffy situation, not unlike what the Bears dealt with at the start of last season when left guard Teven Jenkins was on IR and Davis missed Weeks 2 and 3 following the death of his mother. Trading for Bates — the Bears sent Buffalo a fifth-round draft pick — and signing Coleman Shelton and Pryor was supposed to upgrade the line at center and provide more stability.

It’s a troublesome development for Bates, who had time off for rest during training camp, per Matt Eberflus. Rest turned into Bates missing a little more than two weeks of practice, and because he and Davis (groin) missed so much, the team rotated them at right guard last week in Week 1. Davis started and got 18 snaps and Bates wound up playing 38 snaps.

After that game, Bates told me “it felt good” and indicated he dealt with a shoulder issue previously while in Buffalo. It’s worth noting he never missed a game with a shoulder/elbow issue while playing for the Bills and he obviously passed a physical to complete the trade. He was limited in Wednesday’s practice and was held out Thursday and Friday before the Saturday’s roster move.

“I’ve dealt with it before so I know how to handle it,” Bates told me. “I know how to work around it.”

Now, he’s going to get at least four weeks to rest the injurym meaning the soonest he could play would be the Week 6 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. With the bye following the Jaguars game, the Bears might want to give him additional time.

As I understand it, Bates is dealing with an arthritic condition and the Bears are hopeful that with rest, he will be able to get the situation under control and return for an uninterrupted stretch of play.

If the bye week is a loose timeline for Bates — and I have not heard anything specific — it might match up with a plan to get Borom back in the mix. He suffered a high ankle sprain, typically at least a four-week injury, sometimes six or even a little more. It’s possible you are looking at the Week 8 trip to Washington as an estimate for both linemen.

That leaves the Bears with four more games — at Indianapolis, home against the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers, and vs. the Jaguars in London — before they could potentially be full strength on the line. Of course, that’s assuming there are no new injuries.

The Bears used nine different starting combinations on the offensive line last season — and that’s after they had nine unique lineups in 2022. That’s 18 different starting combinations and a vicious cycle of change they want to get out of.

They need to look at everything. Did Davis play well enough to remain in the lineup? Can Pryor do a better job? That’s about the only move I can think of this week or in the immediate future before the team returns from London. Quality offensive linemen are not going to be available in trade. Sure, they can bring some in for a tryout and see if any are practice-squad eligible, but it’s slim pickings at the offensive line store right now.

The good news is the team and Bates believe he will be back before the midpoint of the season. Borom is going to miss maybe a little more than one-third of the season. So they’ve got some depth in terms of experienced players, but everyone needs to play better across the board to give Caleb Williams a chance.

You already know where the Bears will be focusing their attention in the offseason ahead.

4. It’s going to be really interesting to see where second-year cornerback Tyrique Stevenson can go from a developmental standpoint.

Opposing quarterbacks are shying away from Jaylon Johnson, as you might imagine, so everything is being expedited for Stevenson in terms of experience. He responded well in Week 1 with the interception he returned for a touchdown. Yes, that was one of many boneheaded plays Titans QB Will Levis has attempted in two weeks now, but Stevenson had a strong game. He made five tackles with one pass breakup in Week 2. He’ll be a marked man every week and the thing I like about Stevenson is he invites it.

“I am happy with it,” he said. “All it’s going to do is make me better. Better for the rest of the season. Make me better for when those clutch situations come in and this defense really needs me to bow up and I can be able to do that. I am getting targets. The best thing I can do for the defense is catch (pick the ball off), tackle and not let up a touchdown.”

The Bears know they’re going to be riding the rollercoaster with Stevenson at times because he’s still young. But his eye discipline is improved tremendously since the start of last year and he’s got an understanding for route concepts now. He’s not seeing things for the first time.

Stevenson even drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Texans wide receiver Nico Collins.

“I can’t say what I told him but I definitely let him know how I felt at the moment and he couldn’t control his emotions and his emotions drove him to do what he did,” Stevenson said with a sly grin.

Collins scored on a 28-yard touchdown on the next play. He worked inside of Stevenson and there was a huge void in the middle of the field. I thought it was some form of Cover 6. It looked like linebacker T.J. Edwards didn’t get to proper depth and sat on a back releasing.

“We were in like a buzz flat Cover Three,” Stevenson said. “He just happened to run where nobody was. I did my job, which was forcing him inside. I looked up and he was in the end zone.”

It’s not going to be perfect every week, but holding C.J. Stroud (23 of 36 for 260 yards) and the Texans to only 19 points was a solid effort. Running back Joe Mixon, who ran wild in Week 1, had 25 yards on nine carries. The Bears gave up a couple big plays when Stroud extended the action and found receivers running away from coverage.

“We just knew coming in what kind of offense they run,” Stevenson said. “They like the shot plays, run the ball and then stretch it down the field. We played our game. We could have did a lot better getting turnovers but overall, this defense came and fought to the end. We were put in a lot of situations where it was bend don’t break and we didn’t break. I am happy this defense played the way it did.”

5. The irony wasn’t lost on Kyle Orton.

It was more than 15 years ago when Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said: “We’ve got to get the quarterback position stabilized. We’re fixated on that and I don’t want us to lose sight of that.”

Three GMs later, the Bears remain fixated on the position, hopeful Caleb Williams is the solution to an issue that predated Angelo by decades. Orton was the starter during the 2008 season when the Bears finished 9-7, missing the playoffs after losing a 31-24 finale in Houston, a game in which Orton threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Three months later, the Bears pulled off a blockbuster trade, sending a cache of draft picks and Orton to the Denver Broncos for Jay Cutler. They have had three winning seasons and won one playoff game since, reaching the NFC championship game after the 2010 season. The quarterback search moved from Cutler to Mitch Trubisky to Justin Fields and now to Williams.

“Crushed,” Orton said of his reaction to the trade. “Just a super-close team and really felt like we were on the verge of building on some of the success we had. I thought I was really coming into form in my own play. Totally surprised by it.

“There had been some whispers, and communication with my agent was, ‘No chance.’ Definitely didn’t think anything was going to happen. And got a call from Lovie Smith’s secretary, and that was definitely out of the ordinary. I knew something was up. Got called into the office and was packing the bags a couple hours later.”

Nowadays, Orton follows the Bears casually from afar. He’s in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, and helps coach Southeast Polk, the high school where he played, as well as his son Jack’s youth football team. He attended the alumni weekend event the Bears held last season, the only time he has been back since retiring after the 2014 season.

How have Chicago Bears QBs — including Caleb Williams — done in their debut?

Orton’s name is significant for the Bears this season. The list of rookie quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era who have won more than 10 games during their rookie season is pretty short. Ben Roethlisberger (2004) and Dak Prescott (2016) won 13. Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson won 11 each in 2012, as did Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan in 2008. That’s it if you don’t include players who were technically NFL rookies but played in other professional leagues first, such as Danny White and Dieter Brock.

Three quarterbacks won 10 games as rookie starters: Mac Jones (2021), Lamar Jackson (2018) and Orton (2005) as a member of the Bears.

“I was fortunate to have not just a good team,” Orton said, “but a super veteran-led team that had great leadership at the player level that really allowed me to focus on my job and only my job — and it’s a really tough job. The younger you are, the less you have to worry about. Definitely helps you out.”

Everyone knows an elite defense — middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was the defensive player of the year — strong special teams and a powerful running game helped carry Orton. But he avoided prolonged stretches of messy play that can lose games quickly while posting a 10-5 record in place of Rex Grossman, who was out with a fractured ankle.

Orton didn’t play in 2006, went 2-1 as the starter in 2007 and started to come on in 2008 as the Bears beat the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers in overtime in consecutive weeks leading into the final game in Houston. For the season, he passed for 2,972 yards and 18 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.

“That was the closest-knit team that I have ever been on, and I’m not saying I was the fabric of that in any way, shape or form,” he said. “We had some superstar players that were unbelievable leaders and were very welcoming to all players and held everybody accountable. It was just an environment that I loved. It was a unique situation. Not all teams are like that.”

Orton threw for a career-high 3,802 yards in 2009 for the Broncos with 21 touchdowns and was well on his way to 4,000 yards the next season when he was benched after the 13th game. He had 3,653 yards and 20 touchdowns with only nine interceptions, but the team was 3-10 and felt the urge to try Tim Tebow.

The Broncos waived Orton during the 2011 season, and the Kansas City Chiefs claimed him. He spent 2012 and 2013 as a backup for the Dallas Cowboys and signed with the Buffalo Bills in 2014. Entering Week 5 with a 2-2 record, the Bills inserted Orton into the lineup and went 7-5 the rest of the way to finish with a winning record for the first time in a decade.

At the end of the season, at age 32, he walked away from the game.

“More than anything I was just kind of tired,” Orton said. “The Tebowmania really took its toll on me in Denver. That was a situation that was, you know, getting booed going out to practice. Having some of your best (performances), throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and getting benched Week 14 of the season. To lose your job in that situation, that was extremely frustrating.

“That was coming after getting traded when you’re a captain on the team and didn’t think that should have happened. Just kind of got tired of some of the politics of it. We were talking for a contract in Buffalo. My daughter was 6 years old at the time and she had lived in four or five different cities. I told them that I would love to be there for three, four years.

“Didn’t need the most money but definitely wanted somewhat of a commitment to get a house and settle down a little bit. Just kind of told them they had until the end of the year, and if not, my mind was kind of made up already. They couldn’t get anything done by that time, and I was ready to move on to the second stage of my life.”