INDIANAPOLIS — It’s pretty hypocritical of Bears chairman George McCaskey to ban swearing from the Bears’ edition of “Hard Knocks” but allow their games to be televised every week.
Because if the prim and proper McCaskey doesn’t think the children of Bears fans are learning how to swear from their parents every Sunday (as well as every other day of the week), well, he’s out of his freakin’ mind.
On another wasted Sunday afternoon, the Bears gave their fans a lot of opportunities to work blue in a 21-16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
I mean, what the bleeping bleep was that?
I’m not saying it’s time to panic about Caleb Williams and the future of this team, but feel free to be pissed off Monday.
And if you’re wondering how the players and coaches are feeling, certainly, you can sense the level of frustration rising for a 1-2 Bears team that could be 0-3 or 3-0.
“We’re just not playing complementary football as a team right now,” veteran safety Kevin Byard III said. “It doesn’t really matter how well (the) defense plays in spurts. When we do make a play, we’ve got to be able to answer the call on offense or whatever it may be.”
GO DEEPER
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He’s trying his best to use “we” there, but we know what he’s saying. I don’t think Byard was trying to throw the offense under the proverbial bus. He was just being honest. A professional who expects an NFL effort. He’s new here, but he’s getting the hang of the Bears experience.
As is the custom for this franchise, the defense is putting the team in the position to win, but it has to not only be perfect — it needs to score on its own as well. The Bears’ only win this year proves that to be true.
“I mean, you can’t win a game (when you) turn the ball over three times, and we’re not scoring enough points on the road,” he said, before pointing the finger back at the defense. “We knew we had to stop the run. Jonathan Taylor went over 100 yards rushing. We have to be able to be better in the run game. So it’s a lot of things we could do as a team to be better. We get a three-and-out and then we have a penalty on special teams and they (were) able to score in that drive. So I say we’re just not being complementary as a team right now.”
My favorite Bears stat of the season so far:
Per @TruMediaSports, they’ve turned 5 of their 59 2nd-down plays into first downs this season.
A cool 8.5 % conversion rate.
No other team in the league is below 18.8 % — and that team is the Panthers.
— Robert Mays (@robertmays) September 22, 2024
The defense did enough to win, but the mistakes it made were costly. To wit: It only gave up four passing first downs to “Air Mailin’” Anthony Richardson, and three were in the second quarter, but those passes were for a combined 122 yards. On two of the plays, a broken coverage left receivers wide open.
Two of those passes — a 40-yarder to Kylen Granson and a 25-yard catch and run by Taylor — were instrumental in helping the Colts score two of their three touchdowns.
Richardson completed only 10 of 20 passes for 167 yards and threw two interceptions. That he was the winning quarterback says more about what the Bears didn’t do.
As Byard alluded to, the MVP of the Colts offense was Taylor, who ran for 110 yards, headlined by a 29-yard touchdown for Indianapolis’ first points. On the Colts’ second touchdown drive, Taylor and Trey Sermon went back-to-back on 21-yard and 15-yard runs. Indianapolis had nine rushing first downs and three touchdowns.
“Obviously, some breakdowns,” Byard said. “So we’ve got to watch the film and clean it up. I know for a fact when we watch the film, we’re going to pull up a stat where six or seven plays combined for probably 200 yards and the rest of the game we’re locking them down.”
He’s close. The Colts’ top six plays combined for 174 yards and then they had four more that went for 13.
As for the penalty he mentioned on special teams, that was Daniel Hardy who got flagged for being offside on a punt after a three-and-out at the Colts’ 28-yard line late in the third quarter. Given a fresh set of downs, the Colts gained 61 yards on three consecutive plays and scored two plays later to make it a 14-3 game.
“We knew we had to take away the explosive (plays) and we gave up a few,” said cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who both gave up a big play to Alec Pierce and snagged an interception.
At least Pierce’s 44-yard catch in the second quarter was negated by Tremaine Edmunds’ pick in the end zone.
“They’re playing lights out,” Williams said of his defense. “Those guys deserve to win. They work hard each week and go out and do what they do and they do it well. We’re going to get better offensively.”
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Williams went 33-for-52, threw for 363 yards — led by a 47-yard completion to Rome Odunze and a 44-yarder on a deflected Hail Mary to DJ Moore — and his first two NFL touchdowns, but he also turned the ball over three times. I’d call it a Cutler-esque performance, except he came into the postgame interview room and asked us how we were doing.
Williams was taken aback when a reporter mentioned how many attempts he had.
“I threw it 52 times?” he said. “Jeez.”
Yes, the Bears were trailing all game, but it’s still 20 passes too many, especially with a patchwork offensive line that got worked over once again.
Chicago had the ball for 10 more minutes than the Colts, but it never felt like it was in control. That’s what happens when you can’t run the ball. Facing a defense that gave up 261 rushing yards to the Packers in Week 2, the Bears ran it 28 times for 63 yards. Five of those attempts came on the first drive, which ended in a missed field goal. So the Bears got off the bus running and got lost on the way to the end zone.
The offensive performance was lowlighted by a 17-play drive ending in a botched speed option on fourth-and-1 at the Colts’ goal line while trailing 7-0 in the second quarter. DeAndre Swift lost 12 yards on the cursed play.
NFL Speed option = always a dumb play.
Colts ball.#Colts#ForTheShoe#Bears#DaBears#CHIvsIND pic.twitter.com/vuAdpKOEKP
— Stampede Blue (@StampedeBlue) September 22, 2024
Swift finished with 20 yards on 15 carries, while Roschon Johnson had 30 yards on eight carries. Through three games, the Bears have 218 net yards rushing and just 13 first downs.
But compared to the Bears’ first two games of the season, this one marked a major step forward for the offense.
“The offensive identity is, I think it is brewing,” Williams said. “I think it is a lot closer than it was the week before or weeks before. I think us figuring that out is going to get this thing going.”
You should have faith in Williams’ development. But offensive coordinator Shane Waldron looks like another in the long line of failed Chicago offensive coordinators, and the overall operation helmed by Matt Eberflus isn’t impressing anyone.
Still, the future could be bright for this Bears team, and with very winnable home games against the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers coming up the next two weeks, the present could be too.
But right now, this loss to the Colts should sting.
“At the end of the day this about wins and losses, so it’s not good enough,” Johnson said. “We’re not where we want to be right now, so it’s definitely not good enough for ourselves. And we’ve definitely had some plays out there. We’ve got to make ‘em.”
(Photo of Caleb Williams: Michael Hickey / Getty Images)
