The performance of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams Sunday in a 38-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers directly led to a feeling of pity.
You had to feel sorry for him.
The rookie QB needs to stay back there four more games in an offense the Bears obviously can’t seem to get right well enough to score first in games, one in which they can’t protect him from pass rushers so he can get the ball to targets downfield with any consistency.
Falling behind early is obviously the biggest problem they need to solve because they have been behind 12 out of 13 games first, and eventually if they trail by bigger deficits they make the offense one-dimensional as Williams drops back time after time. The end result is seven sacks like Williams took on Sunday, bringing his total for the year to 56 sacks.
It's like Groundhog Day, and the offense keeps waking up to trail every week.
You wonder if it’s even worthwhile to have Williams back there taking the hits and throwing underneath deep zone coverages in an attempt to gain a few yards per pass against defenses that know he is going to need to come to them. It’s three straight opponents the Bears fell back against and then tried to rally.
They were out of rallies on Sunday with Brown making his debut as their interim head coach.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s hindering anything or anything like that for me personally,” Williams said. “I think they’re (defenses) going to drop back in these coverage, mixing up coverages and things like that because obviously when you get down now they’re going to make sure you’re not coming back and scoring points.
“It’s something that we’ve done recently pretty well is when we get down, come out at halftime and things like that scoring points, getting after it. And so I wouldn’t put it that way.”
It’s true they did come out fast in the second half and scored their first points but then once they had cut the deficit to 24-6, Williams lost what officials termed a fumble and not an incompletion as he held the ball while starting a throwing motion, then dropped it. The rally was effectively doused.
“You know, if it happens, but it's a taller task and you don't want to, you know, deal with that every game. If you can get out and, you know, jump on people and these teams and, and impose your will that's obviously what you want to do early in games,” Williams said.
The problem with this is it hasn’t happened in a single game Williams started this season. They’ve scored first in only one game, the loss to the Minnesota Vikings. They are now falling farther behind early, and that’s only going to help add to the league-high 56 sacks Williams has already taken.
Williams becomes a target and Brown knows they need to do something to stop this. Establishing the running game might help slow the rush. They’ve run for no more than 78 yards in five of their last six games. They had 68 yards Sunday, their second-lowest total of the year.
“I mean, when you're behind and having to come back in games, you're kind of forced to have to drive back more, which obviously exposes you to more sacks,” Brown said.
Williams has thoughts on many things but on this problem of the offense starting in a zombie-like state he is at a loss for a quick fix or long-term answer. He set an NFL record for rookies with seven straight games without an interception Sunday but it doesn't do him or the team any good when these records are coming while they trail 24-0 or 16-0 at halftime like the last two weeks.
“I don't have the answer for it being something bigger or just the Band-Aid aspect of it,” Williams said. “I think as players, coaches, I think we just overall need to do better.”
It’s not one or two things causing it. This is a crisis situation they've suffered from all year in this offense and with their defense struggling now, the offense becomes all the more exposed.
“I think if we had the answer, you know, we would have solved it by now,” Williams said.
In the meantime, the rookie QB and future of the franchise will need to hope they can stay somehow in games so he can learn better how to compete, and so he can preserve his own hide to make it to the next coaching staff, whoever that is.
