Bears bounce back after offensive struggles, take down the Titans
There were times during the Bears’ 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday when I felt like old Biff Tannen from Back to the Future 2.
For the uninitiated, or perhaps for those not quite as big a movie nerd as I am, an elderly Biff from 2015 watches a group of bullies chase Marty McFly through the streets of the town square. Biff mutters to himself, “There’s something very familiar about all this,” because his group of bullies did the same to Marty back in high school in 1955, when Marty traveled back in time.
Why the reference? Because as I was sitting there on Sunday, a pseudo old man myself, watching the Bears forge a comeback victory using nothing but defense and special teams, I felt the same exact way that Biff did.
There was something very familiar about all that. The Bears were winning in spite of their offense, not because of it.
First, the caveat: Caleb Williams, despite all his accolades and promise, is still a rookie quarterback, and the vast majority of rookie quarterbacks struggle.
Additionally, offenses tend to take longer than defenses in their development and implementation, so that’s to be expected too.
With that out of the way, clearly I speak for most Bears fans when I say there indeed was some level of disappointment or letdown in the offense’s performance on Sunday.
Did I expect four touchdowns and 400 yards from the offense? No. But I think two scores and 300 yards was certainly reasonable.
Instead what we saw was an offensive line that was overmatched and clearly undercooked at this point. We saw a veteran Keenan Allen who looked a step slow and didn’t show the sure hands that have made him a 6-time Pro Bowler. We saw one catch from rookie Rome Odunze, which came off a deflected pass, and which he promptly fumbled after a hit from behind. We saw nothing of substance from the tight ends, a whopping 30 rushing yards from prized free agent acquisition D’Andre Swift, and just 93 passing yards on 14-of-29 passing and a 55.7 passer rating from Williams.
This was nowhere close to what we could have imagined for a first outing. In fact, this had to have been the lowest the offense could possibly perform this season.
I hope.
Truly, I don’t think there is anywhere to go but up from here. I think it’ll take time to jell. I don’t feel good about the center and right guard positions, and if they don’t drastically improve, it will be difficult to gauge Williams’ growth and development throughout the season.
If there is a hole in the middle of the line, that’s going to affect the run game as well, which puts added pressure on Williams in the passing game.
But we know what kind of receivers Allen and D.J. Moore are. We know Odunze has great promise and, presuming he doesn’t miss extended time with his supposed knee injury suffered on Sunday, he’ll grow as a pro, too.
We know what kind of all-around player Cole Kmet is and Gerald Everett is a strong asset in the passing game, too.
Ultimately, it will take great strides from one week to the next to correct the bad that we saw.
On the positive side, Williams didn’t give the ball away. That was not the same for his counterpart, Will Levis, though. The Titans quarterback was eaten alive by this ravenous Bears defense.
The Bears defense recorded three sacks and eight tackles for loss. They also racked up 10 quarterback hits and picked off Levis twice, with Tyrique Stevenson converting one into a pick-six and Jaylon Johnson sealing the game with the other.
The Bears’ special teams also came through with a punt block returned for a touchdown by Jonathan Owens.
Bears fans have been used to seeing their team living in the past, even when not done intentionally. We’ve seen a team heavily depend on defense and special teams to carry an offense that struggles to pass and is forced to rely on the run. We need to see them get back to the future, where most of the rest of the league lives.
Is it too early to panic? Of course. But it’s never too early to be antsy and anxious to see improvement from the most important position in pro sports, no matter how new to the league he is.