Caleb Williams bordered on shifting the blame.
Then he thought better of it.
The Chicago Bears rookie quarterback wasn’t denying he lost a third-quarter fumble. But for a moment, he didn’t display comfort owning it.
What happened on the pass he started to throw and instead lost in a motion sufficiently backward to warrant a fumble?
“Timing wise we were just — myself — a little off,” Williams said in the aftermath of a 38-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. “So I was throwing the ball and timing was a little off. I held the ball and my hand was still coming forward and it was ruled a fumble.”
The play in question was far from the Bears’ first error.
Yes, the Bears lost the chance to cut the lead to just a touchdown (plus a successful 2-point conversion) and field goal had this drive ended in the end zone rather than in a turnover. Instead, the 49ers capitalized on their gifted possession to march 62 yards in five plays, extending their lead to 25 points.
But ESPN analytics detailing win probability at each play point of the game reflect how unlikely a comeback already was. The Bears had a 4.9% chance to win before the fumble, per ESPN’s model. They had a 1.7% chance afterward.
So Williams’ correction from “we” to “myself” in taking accountability wasn’t about accurately reflecting how devastating that snap was after a first half far more debilitating for a Chicago team trying to regroup in their first game after firing head coach Matt Eberflus.
Rather, Williams’ correction matters because it reflected an understanding that perhaps the full context for the play was not the best answer to share in that moment.
Did Williams’ receiver suddenly misdirect on a route, creating hesitation on a throw that he basically stopped throwing? Did Williams’ protection slide to the wrong side, thus not buying sufficient time for the route to develop that Williams wanted to throw on this second-and-8 play call?
Perhaps even interim head coach Thomas Brown, in his fourth game calling Chicago’s plays and his first game also managing the entire operation, did not deliver the play-call in a way Williams fully comprehended. None of that was the point.
What mattered in Williams’ response was that he leaned into, rather than shying away from, accountability.
After Brown took blame in comments to the locker room and reporters alike, perhaps Williams realized he, too, had more to gain than to lose from taking ownership.
“I’ll start with what I addressed with the team: We got our butts kicked,” Brown began his first postgame press conference as a head coach. “We’ll always be straightforward, honest and open about the things that transpired.”
Bears fell apart early, then couldn’t regroup quickly enough
A popular football adage is no game is over until the clock expires.
Coaches like to preach that at halftime, the score might as well be 0-0, and players should hone their effort and focus accordingly.
Well, Chicago had zero points. But San Francisco had 24.
The Bears had 4 first-half yards as a team, their smallest output since 1991. And they allowed 319 to the 49ers before halftime, the 315-yard differential the largest of any NFL game this season at halftime, per the broadcast graphics.
The Bears’ 0.2 yards per play were the third-lowest a team had averaged in a first half since 2012, per TruMedia Sports.
Brown was asked afterward: How does he wrap his head around the massive divide?
“I don’t,” he said. “We got our butts kicked. Like I said, didn’t stay on the grass offensively. Didn’t convert on third down. And obviously we gave up too many explosives on defense.”
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The problems the Bears faced were multifaceted, some reflecting Chicago’s weaknesses and others speaking more to the 49ers’ strengths. On offense, the Bears leaned too heavily on the pass in the first half and ended up in unfavorable distances on third down. Williams took seven sacks, continuing his reign as the most sacked player across the league.
On defense, the 49ers leaned on a plan that tight end George Kittle said they’d used against Eberflus-designed teams during the coach’s time as Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator, Bears head coach and now neither.
“They do a lot of stuff with how they stunt [to] increase their pressures and we knew if we could catch them in one of those on a screen they’d be completely out of whack,” Kittle said after a monster day in which he hauled in 151 yards on just six targets. “They just played completely upfield and then our offensive line did a great job blocking.
“The way they got upfield how our defense does, we thought we could exploit that.”
The Bears opened the third quarter more smoothly, with run-pass balance leading to first- and second-down efficiency which ultimately fueled a nine-plus-minute touchdown drive.
Chicago’s defense forced a three-and-out immediately after, further hinting at a second-half comeback that might resemble the Bears’ recent slow starts. Ten days prior, the Detroit Lions outscored Chicago 16-0 in the first half before the Bears posted 23 points to Detroit’s seven in the second.
Williams found receiver Rome Odunze for 17 yards, chemistry building between the fellow rookies who would also score two touchdowns together at Levi’s Stadium. He found Keenan Allen for 14 and scrambled 2 yards out of bounds.
Then, Williams wound up his throw but turned as he let the ball slip, the ball thus retreating backward rather than advancing forward as defensive lineman Evan Anderson neared. Replay review confirmed a fumble.
On second thought, Williams confirmed one, too.
“We started getting something going and I ended up fumbling the ball, I guess,” Williams said, before rethinking his phrasing and settling on a clearer delivery. “Not I guess — I ended up fumbling the ball. And our momentum and things like that from there started going down and they go score again. When you have points off turnovers and you’re already down, it’s tough.
“We’ve got to have our screws screwed and we’ve got to be on point. That’s not what happened today.”
What can Chicago build on from here?
Accountability won’t win the Bears games. Continued miscommunications and operational disconnects won’t either.
Brown declined to blame the quick turnaround, instead saying “I don’t make excuses” and that the result of a loss is what he’ll focus on most.
But Kittle’s comments on what went right for the 49ers stood in stark contrast to the Bears’ state of affairs.
The tight end spoke about how three years in the system helped Brock Purdy to his 325-yard, two-touchdown day while Kittle’s veteran status worked to his benefit rather than disadvantage.
“[Purdy] is very comfortable in this offense now and I’ve been running it for eight years so it’s fun to be back there and just know, ‘Hey I’m getting the ball no matter what,’ so when the ball hits me in the chest, I better go rumble and bumble and stumble,” Kittle said. “I think Coach [Kyle] Shanahan is calling plays and when you call plays and you guess right against certain defenses, that’s how you just end up wide open sometimes.”
Williams, on the other hand, went deep into his Rolodex of euphemisms to describe how the musical chairs coaching staff influenced the staff’s effectiveness in communicating with him.
“When you have these promotions, when you have these situations we’ve had, with coaches being fired and stuff like we’ve had, people earn or are promoted to new jobs and there’s new things that they have to deal with,” Williams said. “So when you have to add more to what you’re already doing and it’s something new and it’s live bullets flying, there’s gonna be every once in a while – things are gonna happen, communication is going to be different than what it was in the previous position you were in because you have a lot more on your plate.
“But I think we did well today with the situation that has occurred.”
The Bears didn’t do well with execution, particularly in the first half when they fell into a hole so deep it was statistically unlikely they would get out. And Williams did not do well in turning the ball over to compound that hole, the next score also reflecting the defense’s inability to stop the Niners’ offense.
But a better second half than the first half gives Chicago proof of fight to build off, and the head coach and quarterback’s frank ownership can further set up Chicago to build habits even if they won’t be favored to stack many more wins atop their current 4-9 record.
“I’ve got to do a better job of putting in a better game plan on both sides of the ball, so they can execute better, and obviously continue to challenge our guys to be at their best,” Brown said. “Also encourage those guys and also demand that we still stay unified. It’s a grown man’s business: There is no lay down, or quit in our football team, which I do love.
“The goal is to win football games and we didn’t win. So that’s gonna be my only focus today and moving forward.”
