Getty Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore.
Chicago Bears star wide receiver DJ Moore called out his offensive teammates in Week 2’s postgame over one specific issue that kept haunting them during their 19-13 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football.
“The flags just gotta stop,” Moore said on September 15, via Marquee Sports Network. “We gotta figure out a way to be better and not have those. It starts in practice. We’ve got to do our thing and nip it in the bud right now.”
The Bears committed nine penalties for 60 yards in the loss to the Texans, all but one of which were called on the offense. The offense was called for three false start penalties in the final seven minutes of the second quarter alone with Nate Davis and Darnell Wright each committing one that forced the Bears offense into 3rd-and-long situations.
Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams also drew two flags on the night, including a confounding delay-of-game penalty coming out of a TV timeout after a change of possession in the third quarter. Referees also called Williams for intentional grounding in the fourth quarter as he tried to orchestrate a comeback on their second-to-last drive.
Put simply, the penalties added up for an offense that was sloppy enough without them.
“Just gotta be aware of the clock,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said in the postgame about Williams’ delay-of-game penalty after the third-quarter timeout. “You’ve got to have good operation getting out of the hurdle and be better, that’s all you can do.”
Bears Offensive Line Stood Out as Sore Spot in Loss
The Bears had plenty of self-inflicted wounds with penalties in their first loss of the 2024 season, but their offensive line also earned a fair chunk of the blame for failing to create space in the run game and for allowing the Texans to sack Williams seven times.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Texans blitzed Williams on 41.7% of his dropbacks (20 of 48) and credited them with 36 total pressures, which counted instances where the Texans had more than one pressure on a single passing play. When blitzed, Williams completed just 3 of his 12 passes for 15 yards with one interception while his unblitzed looks resulted in a 20-of-25 passing clip for 159 yards; although, still with a pick.
Normally, Williams would shoulder a portion of the blame in instances where he took too long to throw the ball, but he finished with the sixth-fastest time to throw (2.59 seconds) among all quarterbacks in Week 2, emphasizing the failures of his O-line.
The Bears’ offensive line blunders also made it difficult for them to properly establish their run game against the Texans. Chicago’s lead back, D’Andre Swift, had a dud of a performance, netting just 18 yards on 14 attempts for an average of 1.3 yards per carry. Williams did the most damage when running for his life, gaining 44 yards on five runs.
The Bears are averaging the fifth-fewest rushing yards (77.5) in the league through the first two weeks of 2024, a significant decline from 2023 when they finished the regular season with the second-most total rushing yards (2,399) behind only Baltimore (2,661).
Caleb Williams Struggled to Connect With DJ Moore
The Bears also experienced something of a disconnect between their rookie quarterback and their top wide receiver, Moore, during their prime-time loss to the Texans.
While Moore caught six passes for 53 yards — both team-high marks — Williams also missed him on a handful of other throws. He underthrew Moore on a deep pass down the left sideline, resulting in his first career NFL interception near the end of the third quarter. He also missed Moore on a crucial 3rd-and-4 opportunity with roughly three minutes left in the game, which left Moore in clear frustration on the TV broadcast.
Moore couldn’t pinpoint what frustrated him the most about the offense after the loss. “Maybe everything,” he admitted when asked about it. But while fans on social media will now spend too much time diagnosing snippets from the broadcast where Moore expressed frustration, he expressed confidence in the offense’s ability to figure it out as they move on to Week 3’s road matchup with the Indianapolis Colts on September 22.
“When we finally connect and are all [firing] on the same cylinder, it’s going to be good,” Moore said, via CHGO Sports. “Right now, we’re still building a puzzle together, so until we get that puzzle fully complete, it’s going to be an up-and-down road.”
