INDIANAPOLIS — For a brief moment, the Chicago Bears had finally unlocked something on offense. Caleb Williams had the protection and floated a beautiful deep ball down the left sideline to fellow rookie Rome Odunze . The 47-yard pass nearly doubled the team’s longest play of the season.
Three plays later, Williams threw an interception. The drive that was supposed to deliver the moment ended with zero points. The Indianapolis Colts responded with a three-play, 70-yard touchdown drive.
Advertisement “My message to them in the locker room afterward was just this, it was missed opportunities,” coach Matt Eberflus said after the 21-16 loss. “We had opportunities to win that game. The first thing we have to do is honor the football.
Once we do get takeaways, we have to score off those opportunities, and that was the difference in the game to me. They scored off those opportunities and we did not.” The Bears faced third-and-4 from the Indianapolis 31-yard line.
It appeared they’d at least get a field goal, putting points on the board after Odunze’s catch. GO DEEPER As Bears flounder on offense, it's fair to ask: Is Caleb Williams' development in good hands? Williams first looked to his tight end Cole Kmet , but the Colts covered up his curl route. He had running back Roschon Johnson in the right flat but came back to the left sideline, where receiver DeAndre Carter had run an out route.
It’s a throw we’ve seen Williams make often. However, he was under pressure, with a hand in his face. Colts cornerback Jaylon Jones picked off the pass, ending the Bears’ progress.
On the route like ketchup on a hot dog. 🌭 📺 CBS pic.twitter.
com/04ZvSGDRYw — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 22, 2024 “I was out of rhythm of the route,” Williams said. “Just a routine play. Corner made a great break on the ball and I didn’t get all of my power into the throw.
That’s why it was a little bit loftier than some of the usual passes when you’re throwing something like that. “Got a little pushback, tried to get it to him, thought the DB was a little too far off. Made a great break on the ball.
Can’t have those.” That wasn’t even the Bears’ worst moment of the second quarter. They responded to the Colts with a 16-play drive that got them to the 1-yard line.
On fourth-and-goal was the speed option destined to be replayed over and over this week, an embarrassing 12-yard loss. “It was called, so let’s execute,” running back D’Andre Swift said about the play call. “See what I could’ve done differently to make it happen.
” Advertisement A quick glance at the Bears’ box score and it looked like a lot of things started to click for a woeful offense. They entered Sunday with only one drive that went for more than 50 yards. They had five such drives against the Colts.
Williams passed for 363 yards after only 267 combined in the first two games. He notched his first two touchdown passes and Odunze had his first touchdown catch. But this game was about missed opportunities.
Even on Odunze’s touchdown, a communication breakdown had the field goal team running onto the field, forcing Eberflus to call a timeout to set up a two-point conversion — an attempt that failed. “Defense played their asses off again, man. Gave us a lot of opportunities on offense,” Carter said.
“We’ve got to capitalize on the turnovers. We’ve got to figure this offense thing out. It’s gonna come together for us, but we’ve got to figure it out.
” The Bears defense, from Tremaine Edmunds’ interception in the end zone on a Jack Sanborn deflection, to Jaylon Johnson ’s pick to start the second half, to the fourth-down stand, gave the offense chance after chance. A three-and-out forced by the defense was for naught when Daniel Hardy jumped offside on a punt, leading to a Colts touchdown when they got a new set of downs. Those sudden changes led to three points.
The Bears answered Edmunds’ pick with one of their own. They mustered a field goal to start the third quarter. They went three and out after the turnover on downs.
And when the Colts gifted the Bears a first down by roughing punter Tory Taylor , Williams threw his second pick on the ensuing play. “Every game this season, we’ve had multiple opportunities to put the game away,” Swift said. “I can’t thank the defense enough and apologize to the defense on behalf of the offense.
We’re not able to feed off the energy. We’ve got to execute.” GO DEEPER Greenberg: Feeling blue? So are the Bears after wasting a chance for a win against Colts Swift had 13 carries for 20 yards, another brutal stat line, despite what seemed, at first glance, like more holes to run through.
The talk outside the building during the week was about the Colts providing an opportunity for the Bears to “get right” on offense. To an extent, they did. Odunze finished with 112 receiving yards.
Williams operated nicely in the two-minute offense, leading a pair of late touchdown drives ...
albeit against a defense willing to bend but not break. Advertisement In Indianapolis, however, the Bears presented a “get right” opponent, too. A much-maligned Colts run defense held the Bears to 2.
3 yards per carry on 23 rushes. Roschon Johnson’s 9-yard run was the longest of the game. While there were more openings, and coordinator Shane Waldron showed more of a commitment to run, it wasn’t nearly good enough.
“High. It’s high. I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it, it’s high,” Swift said of his frustration.
“We’ve got to be better. Like I told you the other day, that starts with me. I’ve got to be better.
” This Bears team is supposed to avoid the statistical anomalies so many prior ones have accumulated. This Bears team is supposed to be, well, normal. The Bears have their quarterback, a great receiving corps and a great defense.
This loss, this wild game, was one for the history books. The following nuggets are via Stathead: • Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson had a passer rating of 39.0.
The Bears had won 16 in a row against starting QBs with a 39.0 passer rating or worse dating to Thanksgiving 2004, a loss to Drew Henson and the Dallas Cowboys . • Henson was actually benched at halftime of that game, so the last quarterback to start and finish a game in a win against the Bears with a passer rating of 39.
0 or worse was Detroit Lions QB Eric Hipple in 1981. • Since the start of the 2023 season, 54 drives have gone for 16 plays or more (not counting the rest of NFL Week 3). The Bears became the 10th team to fail to score points on a drive that long.
• Twenty-nine drives of 16-plus plays have gotten inside the opponent’s 5-yard line since the start of 2023. Only three have resulted in a turnover on downs. • In non-overtime games since 1991, the Bears are now 23-11 when converting at least nine third downs.
Three of those losses have come under Eberflus. Advertisement • The Bears had not run at least 84 plays in a non-overtime game since 1999. They’ve lost three of the four games in which they’ve run that many plays.
• Of the 109 games in which the Bears have gained at least 395 yards of offense in a game since 1980, Sunday ranked 109th in yards per play (4.70). GO DEEPER NFL Week 3 takeaways: Do Cowboys have a fundamental flaw? Are Vikings a Super Bowl contender? When the Bears won their season opener against the Tennessee Titans in a game with 148 yards of total offense, there was a sense that things had changed.
Good teams find ways to win games like that. Two weeks later, the Bears lost a game that bad teams lose, creating stats that losing Bears teams are too often attached to. Teams shouldn’t have the ball in enemy territory seven times in a game and come away with only 16 points.
Granted, one of those was the 1-yard line after a Hail Mary that fell short, but that was another drive that, if more efficient, could’ve at least gotten into field goal range. Eberflus found some encouraging things from this loss. It’s only Week 3.
The defense is still playing like an elite unit. Williams got into a groove at times in the game. Kmet had some clutch catches.
But in a league in which every game matters so much, this was a Sunday squandered. “We know we’ve got to be better in the red zone,” Carter said. “We’ve got to be better at capitalizing on turnovers.
We’ll watch the film together and get those things right.” (Top photo of Caleb Williams and Tyquan Lewis: Michael Hickey / Getty Images).
