Somewhere inside of me a dreaded feeling of déjà vu reared its ugly head.
The Bears had just taken a 13-0 lead and seemed to be on their way to a resounding victory.
And then the Washington game popped into my head, where the Bears blew a big lead and allowed the Commanders to storm back into the contest.
So, you’ll have to pardon me if, when the Saints scored back-to-back touchdowns to close the gap to 20-14 early in the second half, the bad nachos started to work their way back up the digestive tract.
Fortunately, the Bears defense clamped down after that and didn’t allow any more points from the Spencer Rattler-led Saints offense, even if the Bears’ own struggles offensively netted them only two second-half field goals.
The Bears secured the 26-14 victory over the Saints to earn their fourth win in a row.
This game, like those before it, was won on the strength of Dennis Allen’s defense. The unit recorded four takeaways — three Rattler interceptions and a fumble.
The Bears jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter following Rattler’s fumble, taking a 3-0 lead with a Jake Moody field goal. They’d go on to score another field goal plus two touchdowns — runs by D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai — and take a 20-0 lead with under three minutes to go in the first half.
Instead of shutting down the Saints and coasting into halftime with a commanding lead, the Bears decided to make things interesting.
With 1:08 left in the first half, and the Saints offense backed up to its own 9-yard line, it took five plays and all of 46 seconds for the Saints to score a touchdown and close the half with momentum.
The Saints then started the second half with the ball and again marched down the field, 80 yards on 10 plays, and drew within one score following Chris Olave’s second touchdown catch.
By this point, all the goodwill the Bears had generated in jumping out to a 20-0 lead had all evaporated. Suddenly, winning wasn’t enough as barely skating by a 1-5 team at home would leave fans with an unsatisfied appetite.
Fortunately, the Bears defense would record a turnover on downs plus two picks, while the offense sputtered to a pair of field goals, and the game ended without any more damage from Rattler.
Despite Rattler’s 20-of-32 passing for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns, his four turnovers marred his performance. Still, his stat line minus the mistakes must’ve been awfully desirable from Bears fans as Caleb Williams struggled in this one.
Williams threw for just 172 yards and a pick, with a 61.7 passer rating in the game. I’ll always take wins over stats. But when the goal of this season is to see growth from the second-year signal caller, the victory is dampened by Williams’ performance.
Don’t misunderstand me: I have every faith in Williams to keep growing and in Ben Johnson’s ability to coach him to greatness. And Johnson himself warned us that Caleb’s growth would not be linear.
But if the Bears want to go places — be it this year or beyond — we’re going to have to see performances from Williams that directly lead to victories. Or, to put it another way: the Bears are going to need to win because of Caleb, not just with him.
Frankly, they may get that chance next week. Despite a 1-5 record, the Baltimore Ravens are still a good football team and will be getting all-world quarterback Lamar Jackson back into the fold. The Bears might need Williams to be on point to keep up with the kind of firepower the Ravens exhibit with Jackson at the helm.
The Bears have won four games in a row and are currently tied with the Lions at 4-2 in second place in the NFC North. Detroit obviously has the tiebreaker after that Week 2 thrashing they delivered to the Bears. But the Bears are right in the thick of things and exactly where they need to be to keep pace with other ball clubs for at least a Wild Card.
We’re still very early in the season, so it might seem premature to talk about the playoffs. But why not discuss it? It’s early for all teams that are considered “in the hunt,” and every team has its warts. The Bears just need to keep taking one game at a time and making gradual improvements throughout the season.
