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The Bears’ offensive line is a disaster, and Caleb Williams is paying the price.
Caleb Williams was expected to be the savior for the Chicago Bears when destiny delivered the team the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams had been preordained as a future franchise quarterback and purported ‘generational talent’ during his electric college career at USC, and he would have to work his magic for the team with perhaps the most pathetic QB history in the NFL. It was a marriage of a can’t miss prospect with a franchise that can’t do anything right with a quarterback. Something had to give.
Williams took the first loss of his pro career on Sunday night as the Houston Texans beat the Bears, 19-13, in Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season. Chicago entered the night as an underdog on the road against an ascendant AFC team that is already going where the Bears want to be. There shouldn’t be any shame in a close loss, but the Bears still found a way deflate much of the optimism surrounding Williams’ arrival.
The rookie quarterback was under duress all game. Williams was sacked seven times, he was hit 11 times, and he was pressured on 36 of his 37 dropbacks on the night. The Texans were bringing relentless pressure via the blitz, and the Bears had no idea how to stop them. Chicago’s offensive line was getting cooked all night.
The Texans saw the way the Tennessee Titans rattled Williams with consistent pressure up the middle in Week 1. The Bears somehow won the season opener without scoring an offensive touchdown, with Williams largely ineffective in his debut with just 93 yards passing. Houston doesn’t have an interior disrupter on the level of Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat, but they have two elite edge rushers in Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, who combined for 17 pressures on the night.
Anderson and Hunter didn’t have to do it all themselves, because the Texans were consistently bringing extra defenders to attack Williams. The Bears simply had no clue how to pick up the blitz, and it had their rookie QB running for his life all night.
Williams’ ability to extend plays is what made him special coming out of USC, but he’s quickly learning his backyard football style is much tougher to pull off in the pros. He made some tremendous moves evading Texans defenders throughout the night, but he was never totally home free. The rookie’s gift for improvisation and creativity is meeting the cold reality that NFL defenses are so much bigger and faster, erasing the margin for error he had in college.
It’s almost impossible to play quarterback when the blockers up front don’t give you a second to breathe.
Williams was said to step into the best situation ever for a QB taken with the No. 1 pick. The Bears weren’t the worst team in the league, for one, after receiving the pick in a trade with the Carolina Panthers. Chicago already had a true No. 1 wide receiver in D.J. Moore in place. It traded its fourth round pick for future Hall of Fame receiver Keenan Allen, and used its own first round pick on Washington receiver Rome Odunze. It had a defense that was ready to compete from day one. Williams had the weapons he needed, and a D that could keep the team in games while he adjusted to the next level.
There was only one problem: the Bears again went cheap on the offensive line, with lead executive Ryan Poles (a former offensive linemen himself) betting he could leverage his expertise to find diamonds in the rough in the trenches so the Bears could avoid clogging their cap sheet with big salaries. Chicago made some moves around the margins with their line — trading a fifth round pick to Buffalo for guard/center Ryan Bates, signing Coleman Shelton from the Rams, drafting swing tackle Kiran Amegadjie in the third round — but ultimately Poles was betting on continuity.
Chicago had to ditch their last would-be savior at quarterback, Justin Fields, in part because he had a fatal flaw of holding onto the football too long. Fields was sacked 99 times in his two years as the Bears’ full-time starter, and often looked hesitant to pull the trigger on throws into tight windows. Williams hasn’t had that problem: he’s getting rid of the ball quickly, but it doesn’t matter when his blockers can’t pick up a blitz:
Caleb Williams’ average pass was thrown in 2.59 seconds last night, 6th fastest in the NFL this week. You can’t blame the pressure on him.
— Johnathan Wood (@Johnathan_Wood1) September 16, 2024
Williams has not been good through his first two starts, but it’s hard to think any QB would be good with this offensive line in front of them. The Bears are accustomed to having poor offensive lines over the last 15 years, but this one is especially bad for a singular reason: Chicago can’t even run block this time around. The Bears gained only 71 yards on 22 carries on the ground vs. Houston, with 24 of them coming on a Williams scramble against a prevent defense late in the game. Chicago is so soft in the middle of the line, with zero thump in the run game. When your tackles are also getting cooked by two elite edge rushers, it’s going to be a long day for any QB.
The season is young, and there are still 15 games left in Williams’ rookie regular season. At 1-1, the Bears are in decent shape so far. The defense looks excellent — holding the Texans to under 20 point is a real achievement — and Williams had several flashes of brilliance. He’s missing throws he should make in the future as he continues to adjust to NFL defenders.
How is the offensive line going to fix itself? That starts with Darnell Wright — the team’s No. 10 overall pick in 2023 — and Teven Jenkins (the team’s best lineman) rediscovering their top level. Wright was alarming bad vs. the Texans, and Jenkins was an eyesore vs. the Titans. Those two players need to be the stars of the line, and so far they have been disappointing. Guard Nate Davis’ struggles are far less surprising to Bears fans, and center has been an issue for more than a decade since Hall of Famer Oline Kruetz left town.
Right now, it feels like Williams doesn’t have a chance. He’s reading the field well and has showcased impressive arm talent, but the line’s inability to block — and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s inability to dial up extra protection — is putting him in harm’s way from the moment he calls hike.
If the Bears specialize in anything, it’s ruining a young QB. Williams should be too poised and too talented for that, but it’s not going to matter if he’s pressured on every snap.
