Bear Digest

Playing the Blame and Credit Game for Final Bears Interception

Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson tried to divert attention from DJ Moore on the interception that gave the Rams the ball for the win but there's another side.
Gene Chamberlain|
Rams safety Kam Curl celebrates with safety Kamren Kinchens after intercepting the pass intended for DJ Moore Sunday.
Rams safety Kam Curl celebrates with safety Kamren Kinchens after intercepting the pass intended for DJ Moore Sunday. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The debate rages on over the final pass thrown by Caleb Williams this season.

That is, of course, the interception made by Kam Curl of the Rams when DJ Moore and Williams failed to connect, for reasons not quite understood beyond the fact Moore failed to flatten of his pass route in front of Curl when he saw the DB's position on the play.

On Wednesday when the Bears held their season-ending press conference, coach Ben Johnson sought to fall on a grenade, so to speak.

"Here's what I'll say just off the cuff about that particular play: If there was any sort of miscommunication, that's my problem," Johnson said. "That's no one else's but mine. So I have to do a better job coaching that up.”

Williams had tried to fall on that same grenade after the loss, saying, "Just a miscommunication between him (DJ) and I."

The Rams saw this coming

There is a third side of it not really being considered in Chicago because it didn't involve someone on the Bears. That would be the guy who actually made a strong coverage play and took advantage of the indecision going on, the gray area, on this adjusted pass route. That's Curl.

Making an appearance this week on Skip Bayliss' Arena: Gridiron podcast, Kurl described some good coaching, accurate reading of the play and good coverage.

He saw Rome Odunze going deeper and had seen this all in studying and practicing.

"At the end of the day, it looked like a dagger concept," Curl said. "Odunze, he's usually just the run-off guy. Clearing it up for DJ Moore.

"If he would have thrown it to 15 (Odunze) and they would have made that play, that was a good (play) to them but I felt like I read the concept real good and I made the play."

Curl said defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant had clued them in on it.

"My dog AP, man, the little meetings we've been having on Saturdays, you know, we got a little tale on the shots they like to take," Curl said. "Usually the shots go in one direction."

In the end, the Bears weren't in position for the pass to be completed, but Curl was in position to take it because he diagnosed it.

"Really, it just comes down to instincts, you know what I'm saying?" Curl added. "Like I said, when I see that ball it was the opportunity to help my team win the game."

Perhaps the blame goes all around, including to Johnson for a play predictable enough that the Rams DB had figured out ahead of time what was coming.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.