What We Learned From the Bears’ Heartbreaking Loss to Packers

It felt like deja vu for the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon after a gut wrenching loss to the Green Bay Packers. Chicago was in a position to kick a game-winning field goal in the final seconds before Green Bay blocked the attempt to give the Packers the 20-19 victory and their 11th straight win over the Bears. While there was a lot to be optimistic about from the Bears’ perspective, it will unfortunately all be blurred by the game's final outcome. With that being said, here are my three main takeaways from the Bears’ heartbreaking fourth straight loss.

Caleb Williams Played The Best Game of His Career

Caleb Williams did not end up with his most impressive stat line of the season, but this was by far the best game he has played in the NFL. He completed over 74% of his passes for over 230 yards, but his performance goes far beyond the numbers. Williams was fantastic on third downs as the Bears converted on a season-high nine third downs. On a few of those occasions, Williams used his legs and escape ability to pick up critical yards, which was an aspect of his game that had yet to really be seen through the first nine games. He also did a fantastic job avoiding the negative play. Williams had no turnovers and was only sacked three times, with two of those not coming until the final drive of the game. Lastly, he came through in the clutch when his team needed him on multiple occasions. He converted a crucial fourth down in each of the Bears’ third quarter scoring drives, picking up one with a pass to Roschon Johnson and using his legs on a read option to pick up the other. Then, on the final drive to get the team in field goal range, Williams showed off the talent that made him the number one pick in the draft when he escaped a sack and threw a dart to Rome Odunze for 15 yards on 3rd and 19 to give the Bears a manageable fourth down chance. Then, on fourth down with the game on the line, he completed a perfect back shoulder pass to Odunze again to put the Bears in Packers’ territory. The promising rookie showed a lot of maturity and growth in this high-pressure game, which should make Bears fans very excited to see despite the loss.   

The Bears’ Close Game Woes Continue

It is often said that division games in the NFL will be a team’s closest and most competitive games, given the familiarity that teams in the same division have with one another. That has unfortunately proven to be true for the Bears in the Matt Eberflus era, as Chicago is now just 2-11 in NFC North games and 0-5 against the Packers under Eberflus. There were questions this past offseason about whether Eberflus would return as the coach of the Bears because of his questionable decision making down the stretch in close games. Those questions have also gained much more validity over the first half of this season, especially in the Houston, Washington, Arizona, and Green Bay losses. Eberflus had two questionable challenges in the Houston game, costing the Bears critical timeouts for later in the game. Then he had the obvious error in the Washington game, allowing them to get in range for a Hail Mary. He faced more criticism the next game in Arizona for the 51-yard rushing touchdown the Bears allowed right before the half, and then on Sunday, the critical decision to not run an extra play or two with over 30 seconds on the clock and a timeout in his back pocket to try and get better position for the field goal will be under the spotlight for the foreseeable future. The frustration is most certainly building in that locker room because they all know the talent on the roster is capable of much more than what they have accomplished up to this point in the season, and it feels like multiple games have been stripped from this team because of questionable coaching decisions in crunch time. This Sunday’s loss was yet another example to add to the pile, and it is hard to imagine there is much margin for error for Matt Eberflus to allow something similar to happen again this season.

The Offense Took a Major Step Forward 

Let’s end on a more positive note. This was mentioned above when talking about Caleb Williams’ performance, but the whole offense took a giant step forward on Sunday in Thomas Brown’s first game as offensive coordinator. Aside from the previously mentioned nine 3rd down conversions, the Bears also went a perfect 3-3 on 4th down. The running game also finally came back to life on Sunday as they ran for 179 yards, with 71 of those coming from D’Andre Swift and 70 courtesy of Caleb Williams. Chicago ended up averaging 5.2 yards per rush, which is a little skewed, given Swift ran for a 40-yard touchdown in one rush, but that is still a massive improvement from previous weeks. The improved running game kept the Bears ahead of the chains for the majority of the game, which in turn opened up the rest of the playbook. The rest of the playbook included getting the ball out fast and getting it in the hands of the many playmakers that the Bears have on the outside. It was refreshing to see DJ Moore get the ball in so many creative ways, whether it was a quick screen, a reverse, or a faster developing slant route. It is critical that they continue to get Moore the ball in space, where he is one of the best in the NFL after the catch. Keenan Allen also saw crucial targets on multiple big third downs which is his bread and butter. Overall, the flow of the offense was much more encouraging this week if you are a Bears fan; they stayed ahead of the chains, avoided the negative plays, and quickly got the ball in the hands of their playmakers. These are all positives that Thomas Brown will look to build on as they progress through the rest of this critical time for Caleb Williams’ development. 

All in all, this Bears organization should be priotizing the development of Caleb Williams for the remainder of the 2024 season. Although Sunday’s loss will sting for a while given the fashion in which they lost and the opponent, it is hard to not be optmistic about the performance of the rookie quarterback in his first game against Green Bay. The games are not going to get any easier for the Bears as they face the Vikings this Sunday at home, and then the NFC North leading Lions on Thanksgiving in Detroit.