Just Beneath the Surface

Caleb Williams hit rookie tight end Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown pass with seventeen seconds left in the game to give the visiting Bears a 47-42 win over the Bengals. In securing their fifth win, the Munsters have many as they managed all of last year, with twelve games to go. Still, I wouldn’t get too excited, not with a pass defense that got riddled by 40-year old QB Joe Flacco, who threw for 470 yards and four touchdowns. Or by a brain trust that thinks Cario Santos can handle kickoffs. Like Charlie Jones running the opening kick back for a touchdown was just luck? If only for a game, decisions by GM Ryan Poles seem to have paid off. Seventh-round draft pick Kyle Monangai rushed for 176 while first rounder Loveland caught six passes—two for touchdowns—for 118 yards. Rumbling down the middle of the field to the end zone with two Bengals bouncing off of him, Loveland looked like the second coming of Mike Ditka. So did head coach Ben Johnson, who used more trick plays in a game than all the coaches between him and Ditka did in their entirety. The best one featured a double reverse with receiver DJ Moore throwing a two-yard touchdown to Williams. Somewhere in St. Adalbert Cemetery, George Halas spun in his grave. Ditka got to be Ditka because he was Halas’ boy, and that only lasted for so long until Michael McCaskey gave him the heave-ho. I can’t help but think Johnson being so outside-the-box rubs has George McCaskey worried. The double reverse is not Chicago Bears’ football; three yards and a cloud of dust is. I’m predicting friction between coach and ownership before long. Until then, enjoy.