LONDON — In a city known for its history, a place where one can walk across bridges that are centuries old or sit in a pub built in the 1500s, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams invoked a name from 1942.
Charlie O’Rourke.
We knew at some point we’d be talking about O’Rourke, the franchise record holder for most touchdown passes for a rookie. And, to be clear, Williams isn’t there yet. His four touchdown passes in the 35-16 thumping of the Jacksonville Jaguars put him two away from tying the record … with 11 games to go.
Williams did something else, though, that hasn’t really been seen since O’Rourke was slinging it around Wrigley Field.
By completing 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards and those four scores (plus an interception — and we’ll get to that), Williams posted a passer rating of 124.4, his third consecutive 100-plus passer rating performance.
Only two other rookie quarterbacks have posted three games with a 100 passer rating in a season in Bears history, O’Rourke and Mitch Trubisky. Now, only O’Rourke and Williams have done it in three consecutive games.
“He’s special,” Bears cornerback Josh Blackwell said. “Special player, man. His ability to extend plays and make throws that most of them can’t make, it’s pretty cool to see that.”
Williams’ four-touchdown performance made him the 15th Bears quarterback to do that in a game. He led the Bears to back-to-back wins of 19-plus points for the first time since 2006.
“These past couple games, I think I’ve been seeing it well,” Williams said. “That starts throughout the whole week watching film, in there at practice, talking to coaches, players.
“So, seeing it well. I think the comfort level … getting back to playing football, where I need to be, eyes need to be, if I need to hold the safety, if I need to just angle a route, getting back comfortable and just having that feel for the game.”
Williams became the third quarterback to throw four touchdowns in a game in London, joining Blake Bortles and Tom Brady. He’s only the second rookie quarterback to win in London — Trevor Lawrence did it in 2021.
“People can be as excited as they want to be,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “What I can say about Caleb, he’s taken steps every game. I think that’s been evident.”
Not many would’ve predicted this kind of outcome after the first two possessions when the Bears went three-and-out and punted on back-to-back series.
Following a 17-yard screen pass to running back Roschon Johnson on third down, Williams found Kmet for a 31-yard touchdown. The creative play design had veteran wideout Keenan Allen going in motion, leading to a fake swing pass from Williams. The next pump was a fake screen pass to running back D’Andre Swift.
Then Williams looked over the middle of the field. There was Kmet, who caught the pass, ran through a defender and lunged for the goal line.
.@ColeKmet stretches out for the TD!
📺: @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/hkGe6V930g
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 13, 2024
“Throughout the week we watched film and they were a (fast-flowing defense),” Williams said. “So they fly around. We had a bunch of mismatches. We had Keenan run around and Cole blocking and then going down the seam. Offensive line, Keenan, all those guys, they did a great job creating a lane to Cole down the seam. So it’s everybody else. It was great getting that touchdown and getting everything going.”
Said Kmet, “Just a great play concept. (Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron) had run it in Seattle before. They presented a good defense for us to run that. We had run a bunch of screens where we’re flying the guy behind and pulling those ’backers out, so just kind of blocked my guy on the line for a second and Caleb gave the good fake and then just right up the chute, and I was able to break a tackle and get in the end zone.”
The turning point in the game came on the Bears’ next possession when another well-designed play — a short-yardage, play-action deep ball to DJ Moore when backup offensive linemen Doug Kramer and Kiran Amegadjie were on the field — ended up in the hands of Jaguars safety Andre Cisco.
“I was a bit pissed off at myself just because that’s a pass that you don’t miss, that you don’t want to miss and do something like that,” Williams said. “I was a bit pissed off after that. I think resetting myself was important, but still, having that in the back of my mind, can’t have that happen again, and let’s go out here and go score.”
Allen felt it in the huddle when the Bears got the ball back after a Jaguars three-and-out.
“When he came back the next drive after the turnover, just heard him kind of give out a ‘let’s go,’” he said. “You could tell he wasn’t down, he wasn’t losing any confidence. So I was like, OK, let’s see how this goes and then bing, bam, boom, we went all the way down the field.”
How many Bears quarterbacks have let one interception turn into two or three? Or let back-to-back empty possessions to start a game spiral? Williams answered the interception with a 10-play, 85-yard touchdown drive. He found Kmet in the back corner of the end zone.
Then it was time for Williams to get his older brother figure, Allen, involved in the fun.
At the start of the second half, linebacker T.J. Edwards and safety Elijah Hicks got the ball back to the offense with a forced fumble and recovery. Williams found Allen on third-and-8 for 11 yards. Then on third-and-goal, they ran a play they had been working on since May, one that relies on Williams and Allen to know where the ball will go.
“Once we get two-high, you know I’m one-on-one with the middle linebacker,” Allen said. “We’ve been working on that throw since OTAs. Today we were able to put it on film and make it happen.”
Heck of a throw from @CALEBcsw
📺: #JAXvsCHI on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/3hsylmTqLL— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
The two connected again on the first play of the fourth quarter, a fade to the back corner, an answer to Trevor Lawrence’s touchdown drive. The Bears went up 28-10 and didn’t look back. For good measure, Williams hit Allen for a fourth-down conversion later in the quarter.
“He was obviously in a rhythm after the first couple drives,” Allen said. “And (six) incompletions, I think it was, you can tell he’s just dialing them up. Even the fourth down ball — the slant — it was a dot. When he’s in a groove like that and all the balls are catchable, it’s pretty easy to play receiver.”
O’Rourke’s ultimate records are next on Williams’ to-do list, but it took only until Week 6 for the No. 1 pick to share something with the 1942 signal caller. Playing the Panthers and Jaguars’ defenses helps, sure, but Williams can’t control who he plays. Only Josh Allen has had a better performance against Jacksonville, and only Derek Carr has topped what Williams did against Carolina.
The accuracy was there on the “dots” to Allen. The improvisation was there when Williams eluded the rush and then found Kmet for a 27-yard gain. The resilience was there in how he bounced back from the early hiccups and interception.
The Bears enter the bye with a 4-2 record and lots of confidence in the quarterback. How many times have we been able to say that?
“We feel that he took a step in the right direction, our football team took a step in the right direction of playing that complementary football, and him being able to distribute the football and operate,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We ran some no-huddle and different things in there where he had to operate there at the line and did a nice job today.”
(Photo: Vince Mignott / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
