Bear Digest

The stupid idea Caleb Williams caused Bears offensive line issues

Analysis: The analytics experts love looking at sacks the Bears gave up and blame Caleb Williams for the offensive failures but the real problem to fix is the obvious one.
Gene Chamberlain|
Down goes Caleb Williams again, trying to pass in an offense without a running game or a line that can block.
Down goes Caleb Williams again, trying to pass in an offense without a running game or a line that can block. | Audrey Richardson / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The biggest Bears problem on offense is one GM Ryan Poles didn't seem to want to admit to, mainly because it's his supposed area of great expertise and also because he put it all together.

This is, of course, the offensive line.

When your quarterback is sacked 68 times the blame should go to the offensive line no matter what Caleb Williams says to make everyone feel better about themselves. He deserves criticism for poor passing, not for causing his blockers to fail or the offense to tank, in general.

The bottom line is if the line protected Williams better, the sack total wouldn't be so high.

"Obviously a handful of them sacks are obviously on us," guard Matt Pryor said. "But I think toward the end of the season we kind of took a little more control over it and kind of settled down. He's a young quarterback. Obviously he's gonna adjust. There's gonna be mistakes. So it's kinda, I don’t even know how to put it—it's kind of on both of us.

"You can't just blame him. From the outside in it's gonna look like it's one person's fault."

It wasn't one person's fault. There's more than one person on the line.

"O-line wise the frustrating piece of that is that it was hard to really identify–I will say it this way, it wasn't one reason," Poles said. "It wasn’t always the offensive line, it wasn’t always the quarterback, it wasn’t always the running back in protection. There are a lot of factors in there to look into."

Williams' Issue Factored In

Rookie quarterback problems getting the ball out on time have to be factored in ahead of time. They should be. They are natural.

If they continue into future years, then you have a problem with the passer. When you get a rookie QB like Jayden Daniels, who gets it out faster than almost all veterans, it is extremely rare.

Williams didn't simply flee the pocket for no good reason. It might have happened occasionally but the pressure always starts with a breakdown somewhere on the offensive line.

He took too long to throw? Then protect him longer. That's their job. They don't throw it. They don't run it. They block it.

Blaming the quarterback for running into sacks by panicking is an easy out for the line. There is some small truth if you cherry pick certain plays, but even scared rookie quarterbacks who haven't had the experience of facing NFL defenses will not panic and flee if blocking holds up.

The line is the first line of defense for the QB and the Bears didn't have it.

Real Analytics

Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Network both do decent jobs analyzing NFL line play but it's superficial compared to the website NFLlines.com.

This website ranks the Broncos as the fifth-best line this year after they were ranked 18th last year. This is a huge improvement and Denver is in the playoffs. The Broncos added only one new line starter, but they played together another year in the same offense. This is what it takes after talent addition.

Quarterback Bo Nix got rid of the ball faster than Russell Wilson did last year, according to NFL Next Gen Stats' timing of QBs.

However, Nix only got rid of the ball one-one hundredth of a second faster on average than Williams did this season. Williams' time to throw was 2.92 seconds and Nix's was 2.91 seconds according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

Denver gave up the third fewest sacks in the league. The Bears gave up the most.

Did the quarterback make the offensive line better in Denver? Maybe Nix did to a very small degree, but Williams definitely couldn't have weighed down the Bears offensive line too much with a time only one hundredth of a second slower than Nix had to throw.

Again, if they block it, he gets the ball away no matter how long it takes.

History of Failure

The Bears line has allowed 50 sacks or more for four straight seasons.

There is more to blocking than protecting the passer. There is also run blocking. The Bears just finished 25th in rushing after they were second last year and first in 2023.

Was that Williams' fault, too?

Williams ran for 168 fewer yards than Fields did the previous year. Those 168 yards didn't take a team from second to 25th in rushing, and it's not the job of the quarterback to run, anyway.

Bottom Line Fix

The Bears offensive line didn't get the job done running the ball. It put too much pressure on the passing game to produce with a rookie QB and on the line to protect the rookie. They weren't good at protecting the passer.

Taking into account his own expected rookie issues holding it a bit too long or sometimes awkwardly fleeing the pocket, the entire collective mess combined with a horrendous mistake at offensive coordinator and it made for the league's worst offense in 2024.

Fix the Bears line, make it an actually competitive and consistent while Williams goes through natural second season improvement, and then there is success. It should help greatly when the line coach who has been there throughout all the sacks and the collapse in run blocking is gone but the personnel issue will remain on the line.

Yet, here was Poles on the day after players cleaned out their lockers hedging his bets without admitting the obvious need to upgrade at least a few offensive line positions.

"I would say, in a bubble, philosophically, you would do that," he said. "I also think you have to look at the situations in terms of when you go through the draft is a trade deal what's best available. Also, in free agency we are looking at a board of what's there.

"Just because it's the philosophy doesn't mean that every year there are answers at those positions to take. Obviously, I believe in that. I definitely think we have all the assets we need. From a draft and free agency standpoint I think somethings line up for us to take care of those deals."

Hedging isn't necessary. Fixing the problem is, and that's on one man, not a group of five or the quarterback.

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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.