CHICAGO — At the end of the first half Sunday, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took a shot for receiver DJ Moore down the right sideline in the end zone.
The pass sailed several yards past Moore, who looked like he had beaten his guy, forcing the Bears to settle for a field goal.
It seemed emblematic of what we had seen from the Bears in the previous 14 quarters of football. This field goal did give them a 10-6 lead, but Williams was only 8-for-13 for 71 yards. Moore had one catch for 6 yards. The offense went to the locker room with 97 yards.
“Football’s about the adjustments,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said after the Bears’ 24-18 win against the Los Angeles Rams. “And coming into halftime saying, ‘I saw this,’ or, ‘Let’s do this next time.’”
Caleb Williams completed every pass he threw under 15 air yards (15 for 15) in the Bears’ 24-18 win over the Rams.
Williams completed just 2 of 7 passes over 15 air yards, which included a 9-yard touchdown to DJ Moore.#LARvsCHI | @ChicagoBears pic.twitter.com/HbszVwZCSl
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 29, 2024
Moore and Williams talked. The veteran receiver took the blame. He said he wasn’t on the same page with Williams.
When the Bears got the ball in the third quarter, clinging to a 10-9 lead, they engineered their best drive of the season, and ended it with a Williams-to-Moore connection — this one for a touchdown.
“We’ve got a great relationship,” Moore said, “but we were hunting for that touchdown for a while now.”
The drive had gone 11 plays and 65 yards, with the Bears picking up three first downs. The run game finally got going. Williams was taking advantage of D’Andre Swift’s ability as a receiver, hitting him twice for 18 yards. Then he faced a third-and-5 from the Rams’ 9-yard line.
Williams saw a safety over the top on tight end Gerald Everett. He wondered if they’d double-team Moore or leave him one-on-one with the linebacker.
“When you leave a ’backer on DJ, that’s the matchup that (we) want and (we) wish for throughout games,” Williams said. “That’s how it happened.”
Moore went to the back of the end zone under the goal posts. Williams stayed in a collapsing pocket then floated the pass in the perfect spot.
“One-on-one with the ’backer, had a little stick nod (route), Caleb placed the ball very well,” Moore said. “I just had to keep my feet in and make the catch. … He put it right where it needed to be, right at the back of the linebacker’s head.”
.@CALEBcsw with a DIME to @idjmoore 😮💨
📺: #LARvsCHI on FOX pic.twitter.com/VuNxyUUWWY
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 29, 2024
The touchdown gave the Bears their biggest lead of the season, a 17-9 advantage over the Rams. The quarterback-receiver duo went from the miss at the end of the half to getting the touchdown both had been seeking.
“Hitting him on the next opportunity, that shows a lot of perseverance and courage on their part to go back to it,” Odunze said. “They’re two great players making a play right there. That connection will continue to develop, continue to be an asset for us moving forward.”
Williams completed 9 of 10 passes in the second half for 86 yards. The offense put together four consecutive scoring drives, including back-to-back touchdowns. The Rams answered with a touchdown to start the fourth quarter, then Williams went to work.
He completed back-to-back passes to Moore and Swift to move the chains. Then on second-and-10, he got the chunk play — a 22-yard pass down the middle of the field to a leaping Cole Kmet.
“We had a quick play-action fake right there,” Williams said. “The ’backer was flat-footed. There was a big void right there reading the ’backer and the safety stayed wide. Cole made an unbelievable catch.”
“That’s an NFL throw,” Kmet said. “It’s a really good throw. You’re just banking on the ’backers to bite up a little bit and that’s considered open. He ripped it. … Hopefully you’ll see a lot more of those. But that’s a really high-end, really good throw by Caleb right there.”
During “Communication Week” at Halas Hall, as offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and his players had some transparent, tough conversations, one thing Williams added was that he wanted to see the team “stay in that flow” when things are going well.
After the big play to Kmet, Williams ran to the line. He waved to the sideline, he wanted to go no-huddle. Then he handed the ball to Swift, who took it 36 yards for a touchdown.
Williams was giddy, pumping his fist before running downfield to celebrate.
“He’s a joyous person as you all could tell and he loves playing football,” Odunze said. “When we’re out there moving the ball and having success, he’s captaining that ship. That’s a tremendous feeling.”
.@CALEBcsw‘s HYPED pic.twitter.com/iyRvB3d7aM
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 29, 2024
This wasn’t “The Caleb Williams Game” by any stretch — that’ll come — but it may have been his best performance. He protected the football, took the checkdown successfully, had a passer rating of 106.6, made the key touchdown throw and, most importantly, got the win.
“He was better because I thought he looked down the field for the shots, and when they weren’t there, he took the checkdowns,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We got a lot of yards on those. So I think that was better for him. Again, he’s got to keep improving every single week, but I do think that for him, the operation, honoring the football, taking care of the football is the No. 1 job of the quarterback — he did an excellent job of that today.”
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Williams often references Nov. 18, 2023, his last game with USC, and going nearly nine months before another football game, and 10 months before one that counted. He said he’s getting into the flow of things, and getting more consistent. The Bears, and Williams, surely wanted things to click sooner, and the offense has work to do. Eberflus mentioned the three sacks, there weren’t enough chunk plays in the passing game and the performance came against a poorly ranked Rams defense.
This was one of those weeks, though, where a team just needs a win, no matter how it can happen. Williams didn’t need to be Superman, but he showed progress once again in different facets of his game.
“I think he played great ball,” Odunze said. “He was facilitating the ball. He was sharp with the play calls, knowing exactly what to do. He was confident and direct and concise. I think it was a great game that he played.”
(Photo of DJ Moore and Caleb Williams: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
