Bears News: Williams reacts to blowout loss to Lions

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 2 hours ago

DETROIT - Quarterback Caleb Williams had a challenging rookie year. His second year is not going any better thus far.

He has now experienced his first loss by at least 30 points and threw his first interception of the season in Chicago’s 52-21 loss to the Detroit Lions.

“That team came out and played a hell of a game on the other side of the ball, and we had momentum swings where we were talking punches, and we ended up turning the ball over, having false starts, and things like that,” Williams said. “With a team like that and you have two turnovers and a couple false starts, just overall penalties on the offside of the ball, with a team like that on the other side, they make you pay, and they did that today.”

With a quarterback who is 6-foot-1 and 226 pounds, you would not think a quarterback sneak for a yard would be a problem. However, you would be mistaken. On third and down from Chicago’s own 37-yard line, Williams ran a quarterback sneak and did not get the first down.

So, head coach Ben Johnson elected to go for it on fourth down with another quarterback sneak, and it still failed.

“Just got to go get it,” Williams said. “I thought I got it on the first one, and I guess I got closer, and then the second one, I would say I got it, and the refs end up spotting it back, and you move on from that play. But, just got to go get it.”

Obviously, this loss is not entirely on Williams. The defense gave up 52 points. There were eight accepted penalties. The offensive line gave up four sacks. Williams has already been sacked six times this season, which is not a typical performance for a good offensive line.

Part of what Williams attributes to the struggles is the numerous new pieces Chicago has as they continue to develop their chemistry.

“New coach, new offense and all of that and a bunch of new players and we’re all trying to figure it out together (and) move together,” Williams said. “Everybody do their one eleventh and move together when the ball’s snapped and go execute the plays that are called.”

If there was one positive that Chicago fans can take away from this game, it was that wide receiver Rome Odunze was worth the No. 9 overall pick back in the 2024 NFL Draft. Through the first two weeks, he has clearly established himself as the No. 1 receiver on the team with 13 receptions for 165 yards for three touchdowns.

In fact, he is the only player for the Bears that have caught a touchdown.

“I think that’s just us being together for (a) year and a half now (and) being able to just keep finding that rhythm with him, being able to get in rhythm with the other wide receivers and get in rhythm with tight ends and everything, just get everybody going,” Williams said. “It’s important to have everybody going and everybody to understand their role in this offense that everybody is important and I think today when you have a guy come out and he’s making great catches for you and getting off of man coverage and press and all these different things, you want to keep feeding him the ball and I think that’s just what happened today.”

After this dismal performance against Detroit, it may seem like Chicago’s season is over. However, Williams does not feel that way. They have 15 games left with their next game against former head coach Matt Eberflus, who is the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Eberflus’ defense just allowed the New York Giants to put up 37 points, so this could be an opportunity for Williams and the offense to get things going on Sun. Sept. 21 (3:25 p.m. / FOX).

This will also be Chicago’s first non-conference game.

“We got 15 more games. It’s the first two games and there’s been on multiple occasions teams that have rallied back and go on a run and that’s what we’re focused on and to go that, you got to focus on the next one. This game’s over. They scored a bunch of points. We didn’t score enough and that’s typical how football works. You don’t score enough points when you go out there, you tend to lose the game and so, being able to move onto the next game, next play, whatever the case may be, is where we’re focused and we all believe in each other,” Williams said. “Coach (Johnson said) something extremely powerful to us after the game is how much he believes in each and every one of us, coaches included, and we believe in them. Everything that they put up, everything that they call, everything that we discuss, anything like that, we believe in them and I think we just got to keep believing, keep pushing and not let anything divide us or anything like that. We got to keep going. It’s only two games and we got keep moving along.”