Wakeup Call

The NFL/Bears/Chicago sports’ media complex would have you believe Caleb Williams is a polished quarterback and Ben Johnson is a polished head coach, only they’re not, which was obvious in yesterday’s 19-16 loss to the Lions at home. In truth, Williams is a second-year player whose rookie season was marked by his having to survive being sacked 68 times. Williams has also had three head coaches. That he’s led his team to an 11-6 record, good for the second seed in the NFC, is an extraordinary accomplishment. But Willimas still has a lot of work to do. He scrambles way too much looking for receivers, only to throw off his back foot at the last possible second. Sometimes, those throws are caught, most times not, and sometimes Williams is flagged for intentional grounding. The Bears tied with the Falcons and Commanders for the most such penalties in all of football, with five. Two of those teams are going home. The other one is damn’ lucky to be going to the postseason. Yesterday was another game where the offense went to sleep for three quarters. Going into the fourth, the score was 16-0 Lions. That’s when Williams worked his magic, engineering two scoring drives that tied the game at sixteen. The Bears then managed a turnover to get the ball back with 2:18 left in the game. Guess who got called for intentional grounding on second down? Three-and-out led to a Lions’ game-winning field goal with the clock running down. The intentional-grounding penalty wouldn’t have mattered if the Bears’ defense had held; it didn’t. Yes, the defense managed three sacks on the day, but this is where they needed number four. No pressure on the quarterback translated into a 26-yard completion from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown to the Chicago 26. For all intents and purposes, game over. St. Brown racked up 139 yards on eleven receptions. If the defense had a plan to stop him, it didn’t work. Goff threw for 331 yards while the Lions rushed for another 122 yards. Again, if there was a plan, it needed to be shelved. The inability to adjust is on Johnson and his staff as much as it is any defender. I’d also pin a lack of intensity if not focus on the rookie coach. Six straight runs in the Bears’ first possession capped off by an incomplete screen pass? You can’t be serious. At least, Johnson wasn’t. So, things get addressed, pronto, or at the end of Saturday’s game against Green Bay, Cheese Nation is going to claim bragging rights for an awfully long time.