Life is tough with a new quarterback. But the Chicago Bears' inability to protect Caleb Williams made it even tougher against the Texans on Sunday Night Football, where the team lost 13-19.
The Texans hit Williams early and often. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans went all in on the Bears rookie, and the combination of a shaky offensive line, ineffective offense and quarterback inexperience led to a long night at the office for Williams.
Williams was visibly disappointed during a post-game interview and listed a long list of things that disappointed him the most.
The Bears lost to the Texans 19-13 on Sunday evening. After the game, Caleb Williams explained what bothered him most about the loss
“Not being able to come away with a win,” Williams said when asked what was most upsetting about Sunday's game. “Not being able to execute. As a team, we needed to do that. I threw two interceptions myself, that's not what I did, that's what I do.”
Williams has passed for just 267 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions through two games. During Sunday night's loss, Williams was sacked seven times, hit 11 and pressured on 23 of 48 dropbacks. Williams was pressured 36 times and non-Williams runners gained 1.6 yards per carry.
“If we want to keep getting better, it's all about reactions,” Williams said. “Just keep getting better in practice, keep getting better every day, pay attention to details, things like that.”
As the Bears look toward their next game in Week Three, here are five key takeaways from the Bears’ loss to the Texans on Sunday night.
Williams is still a rookie QB
It’s only taken two weeks for the “best situation ever for a No. 1 overall pick” to be viewed as a toxic safety hazard that could hurt Williams’ development rather than accelerate it.
“When it finally connects and is on the same cylinder well, it's going to be good,” wide receiver DJ Moore said after the loss. “Right now, we're putting a puzzle together. It's going to be a bumpy road until we get that puzzle all completed.”
Every member of the Bears offense knew it would take time for Williams to get comfortable and get into a rhythm. But the way the Bears offense has performed on the field in their first two games is troubling. There has been no vertical passing game, the defense has been terrible, and the mental errors and missed assignments are mounting.
Report card: Grading Caleb Williams in Bears' loss to Texans
The Bears' offensive inefficiency doesn't fall at Williams' feet. Sunday was just his second career NFL game. The whole idea behind what the Bears created was that it would make it easier for Williams to settle in, steady himself and move on.
So far, none of that has come true, and it will be hard to fix it overnight. The Bears don't have a single thing to clean up. Everything needs to happen better and faster.
“We've got to treat him better,” Cole Kmet said after the loss.
Lack of O-line support
There were a lot of expectations for this Bears offense. The hype was at its peak entering the season. But after two games, this looks like your normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill Chicago offense.
Williams' performance will improve because he has enough players to play with. If the rest of the Bears' offensive line doesn't give him the support he needs, he won't be able to develop.
It starts with an offensive line that was the weak link in the Bears' brilliant Williams development plan, which was able to keep pressure on him for more than a second. It starts with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who not only planned to get Williams comfortable early, but also found a way to best utilize all of the Bears' weapons. (DeAndre Carter and Gerald Everett were so overmatched on Sunday that the 2022 Chargers should have been put to shame.)
Moore needs to have a more schematic game, needs to attack the seam more with Kmet, and needs to be more dynamic in the pocket.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Kmet said. “The reality of the NFL is we're sitting together offensively. We've got to regroup here.”
Restructuring would have to begin immediately, and the task would fall squarely on the shoulders of Waldron and the Bears' experienced leaders.
No run game
After averaging just 3.8 yards per carry against the Titans, the Bears emphasized the need to find an efficient and clean running game all week.
Even if they found someone during practice, he wouldn’t have come to Houston.
In the first half, the Bears rushed for just 18 yards on 11 carries (1.6 yards per carry). Williams led the Bears in rushing with 9 yards on two carries, while D'Andre Swift rushed for 6 yards on seven rushes.
The Bears' offensive line was once again stymied at the point of attack on the interior and edges, as they were unable to move the ball on the ground in the first half.
The Bears finished the game with 22 carries for 71 yards, but Williams led the team with 44 yards on five carries. Chicago abandoned the interior run game in the second half, but that's not a sustainable plan of attack moving forward. The Bears must find a solution for this leaky offensive line quickly, otherwise Williams' rookie year will be even more difficult than expected.
The defense does its job
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud got off to a hot start, but the Bears' defense made the necessary adjustments at halftime and held the Texans' high-powered offense in check for most of the second half.
The Bears defense finished with three sacks, four quarterback hits, six tackles for loss, and forced a fumble when the Texans were going for the kill shot in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Matt Eberflus' defense did everything possible to contain Williams and give the Bears a chance to win the game. But the game-changing plays that allowed them to win the game against the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 didn't come this time around.
After the offensive play failed once again, the defense did their job for the majority of the night and gave them a chance to win the game.
The Bears' defense held the Texans' offense in check in the second half and even gave Williams the ball back with 1:37 minutes remaining for the win.
It was a defensive performance that indicated the Bears’ unit is ready to go over the top and can frustrate and harass the best offensive defenses in the NFL.
They just need the offensive team to come in and help.
Whose fault is it in this?
It's fair to criticize both of Eberflus' challenges, especially the second one, which caused the Bears to lose a valuable timeout they could have used in an attempt by Williams and the team to tie the game.
Those were bad challenges, and they needed to be addressed.
But offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is now under scrutiny after two consecutive offensive failures.
The Bears can’t run the ball and don’t have any vertical passing game at the moment.
Williams is 0-11, according to ESPN stats and information, and has two interceptions on throws that come from at least 15 yards.
There are too few easy throws to get Williams into a rhythm, and there is a lack of creativity on third-down and short-yardage plays, and life becomes difficult for Williams.
Waldron is known as a great player who plays to his players' strengths.
We haven't seen that yet.