Getting walked down the field by Sam Darnold as overtime expires is a terrible way to lose, and the Chicago Bears endured that in Sunday’s 30-27 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
But the Bears did get an incredible performance from their young franchise quarterback against one of the best defenses in the entire league. Caleb Williams made several big-time plays that showed off his poise, playmaking and overall talent level that made him one of the more hyped quarterback prospects in recent memory.
He gave the Bears a chance to win against one of the best teams in the NFL, which is really all they ask for at this point as they continue to free fall down the NFC standings.
“You don’t want to be around people that are quitting, that are giving up,” Williams said. That’s not the type of guys we have.”
From an overall operation standpoint, this might have been the Bears’ best game of the season considering their opponent. The Vikings’ defense led by the blitz-happy Brian Flores has given offenses hell all year, despite not having a superstar cast of characters on that side of the ball. It was easy to imagine that the Bears’ normally sloppy offense wouldn’t be up to the tall task in front of them, but they played very well.
Interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown had a great plan involving a heavy dose of screens to keep the Vikings at bay and give Williams some better opportunities when they did rip it down the field.
“That’s a tough defense to go against, with the different looks and the pressures and variation of coverage, and I thought he did a really good job of finding the space as we talked about earlier in the week, and getting the ball to our skill,” said Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
Williams threw two touchdowns, his first TD passes since the Bears’ London game against the Jaguars on October 13, and Williams was able to eclipse 300 yards for the third time this season. He had several big-time throws down the field that looked like they were shot out of a cannon en route to his receivers, including a laser to get the Bears in field goal range right before overtime started.
This was a winning performance from the Bears’ offense, which was huge because they’ve been having an extremely tough go on it on offense recently. DJ Moore had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, while Keenan Allen had nine catches for 86 yards and a score. Cole Kmet and Rome Odunze were able to chip in as well. It just wasn’t quite enough to get the win.
“I think we’ve gotten better over these past couple games,” Williams said. “I think today was a testament to that, being decisive, receivers and everybody, and things like that.”
Unfortunately for Chicago, their defense wasn’t able to capitalize on multiple errant throws by Darnold and eventually allowed the Vikings’ offense to have a very solid day. Their run defense was leaky and they were eventually carved up by the Vikings on the final drive of the game as they dropped to 4-7 on the season.
This loss will likely close the door on whatever playoff hopes they had, but in terms of projecting success for the future, this was still a positive game for the Bears.
There have been ups and downs for Williams this season, and the Bears have fallen short of the expectations that were set upon them in the offseason, but he’s shown plenty of times that he has the talent to lead the Bears into the future. What games like this show is that the Bears do have a path to sustainable offensive success, which is something that’s been foreign to this franchise for essentially the entirety of its existence.
It might not happen this year, but with a (likely) new coaching staff next year, they should at least be feeling really good about their quarterback situation. Williams has the talent to be the guy for the Bears.
“I think the world of him,” said Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. “He just continues to get better and better. You can see it when he starts creating off schedule, and that change of direction and athleticism. We had him dead to rights a couple times and he gets out and makes huge plays.”
