The Chicago Bears first victory of the 2024 regular season wasn't a perfect one by any means, especially on offense.
Even still, by the time the clock hit zero, Caleb Williams became the first #1 overall pick to win his Week 1 start since David Carr in 2002.
And there's reason to believe Williams' Week 1 performance could be one of his worst games he puts together during his rookie campaign. Ultimately, the outcome of Sunday's game proved that the Bears truly have the perfect situation needed for a rookie quarterback to succeed.
"When you start a rookie quarterback, which we're doing, he's going to have ups and downs and good moments and other moments," head coach Matt Eberflus said after the game. "Like I said, we just have to play well around him, make sure the operation is clean, and make sure we don't turn the ball over."
That's exactly what the Bears were able to do on Sunday. It wasn't the firework show everyone hoped for out of the Bears offense with Williams only finishing with 93 passing yards and zero touchdowns. However, the unit had no turnovers and kept fighting every drive while the rest of the team went to work to secure the win.
It was a full team effort outside of the offensive struggles. On special teams, rookie punter Tory Taylor was phenomenal averaging 45.0 yards on six punts, Deandre Carter racked up 131 return yards combined, and the punt coverage unit blocked a kick that was returned for a touchdown. Defensively, the unit shut the Titans out during the final two quarters, ending the day with three sacks, three takeaways and a touchdown.
"In the NFL, every week is different," Eberflus added. "You just have to be good as a team. It's never about one side or one person, it's about us being able to figure it out during the game and figure out our winning formula for that particular day. Once you get a solidified quarterback that's a seasoned veteran, I think it becomes pretty clear how you operate and how you do things. Our guy is very talented, again this is his first game, and he's going to continue to get better."
That's something Williams himself admitted after struggling to move the offense in his regular season debut. But one of his main takeaways from the game was seeing how the team around him rallied to get the hard fought win at the end of the day.
"First and foremost is just keep fighting," Williams said. "Understanding the team that I have here right in this battle with me is the first thing I learned. They are unbelievable."
Leading up to the start of the season, the Bears coaching staff and front office wanted to make it clear that they wanted Williams to rely on the team around him as opposed to trying to lift the team up single-handedly until he's ready to do so. That's what he was able to do in Week 1 and it was a perfect gameplan to start the season.
