CHICAGO — Caleb Williams’ 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver DJ Moore in the final 30 seconds of the first half against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday started with his check at the line of the scrimmage.
“The coverage pushed over when I made the check to the right side,” Williams said.
With three receivers now to the right, Williams had Moore alone against cornerback Mike Jackson to his left. Once the ball was snapped, Williams first looked right at receiver Keenan Allen running up the numbers toward the end zone. Safety Xavier Woods followed his eyes. But Williams was really locked on to Moore on the back side of the play.
“DJ did a good job keeping it skinny, getting on the DB’s toes and then keeping it skinny,” Williams said. “I saw the safety push over right before the snap when that happened.”
Moore said once he crossed Jackson’s face, he was thinking touchdown.
“There was nobody in the middle of the field,” he said. “So I was like, it’s my ball or it’s nobody’s. And 99 percent of the time, it’s my ball.”
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It was his ball and his touchdown, his second of the game. Williams threw a perfect ball in a key moment on a windy day.
“It was just a dot,” Moore said.
That one play on second-and-8 in the second quarter meant plenty in the Bears’ 36-10 dismantling of the Panthers at Soldier Field.
It was another sign of Williams’ development and improvement. He made the right check at the line of scrimmage and then manipulated the safety with his eyes. Williams was 20-for-29 passing for 304 yards, two touchdowns and a 126.2 passer rating.
And it put to bed any farfetched concerns about Williams’ connection with Moore. Everything they’ve been working on in practice — including that touchdown-scoring play — finally turned into production on game days. Moore finished with five catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
Moore’s first score was a 34-yard catch-and-run off of play action in the first quarter that required some tightrope walking down the right sideline. Moore wasn’t the decoy he was last week against the Los Angeles Rams. Instead, the routes run by Allen and rookie receiver Rome Odunze opened things up for him.
“It was a big wide void over there,” Moore said. “Rome and Keenan did a good job taking the safety and nickel out of there, and I just came across the field, streaking open.”
The Bears looked like a good team on the rise with a young quarterback. The Panthers looked like a bad team on the verge of providing the Bears with a high second-round pick in 2025, the final piece of their trade for the first pick in 2023.
All of Williams’ success and production came against one of the worst defenses in the league. But Williams also thoroughly outplayed Panthers veteran starter Andy Dalton. Williams looked like the future for the Bears, while the Panthers are clearly looking for answers at the most important position in sports after benching Bryce Young earlier this season.
Williams did what you’d hope he’d do against the Panthers. He spread the ball around and didn’t turn it over. He was sacked on the Bears’ third play from scrimmage, then wasn’t sacked again. The Bears offense not only looked efficient but explosive with Williams’ connection with Moore working.
By using the no-huddle offense again, the Bears were able to catch the Panthers with their base defense on the field. That gave Williams more time to scan the field before the snap.
“He’s learning and growing,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “You can see that in the course of these games that we’ve had. He needs it to continue. He knows that. You just have to level up (and) keep leveling up.”
The Bears dominated an inferior opponent as they surpassed 400 yards of total offense for the first time this season. It’s not often you get to say or write that about the Bears. The defense forced three takeaways, but Sunday looked and felt different as Williams and the offense consistently moved the ball.
Running back D’Andre Swift had 21 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown, while Roschon Johnson added 25 yards and two 1-yard scores as the package featuring backup center Doug Kramer continued to work. Swift had two catches for 47 yards, including a 42-yard gain on another well-executed screen. Tight end Cole Kmet added three catches for 57 yards, including a 25-yard reception to spark the possession that ended with Moore’s 30-yard touchdown catch.
“It keeps us on the football field, being efficient and then you have those big plays, the momentum swings,” Williams said. “Us playing together and playing like that, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
He was talking about everyone, but that’s especially true when the passing game is clicking with Moore. Williams’ 30-yard touchdown pass to Moore in the end zone was five weeks in the making. The duo had every reason to be excited about it.
“I’ve been wanting one of those,” Williams said. “Having a special player like that on your team, you obviously want to give him the ball, let him just be DJ and be special. It felt really good. We were super excited. We get to the sideline and we were both like, ‘Finally, we were able to hit something like that.’”
(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
