Bear Digest

The trouble spot where Caleb Williams and Bears offense bog down

Coach Ben Johnson, QB Caleb Williams and the Bears brain trust is searching for ways to finish drives in the end zone instead of between the uprights.
Gene Chamberlain|
Red zone passing is bogging down for Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
Red zone passing is bogging down for Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears have been kicking an awful lot of field goals lately.

While making four the last two games has been good for the career chances of backup kicker Jake Moody, it's doing little for the scoreboard. Considering how often they get the ball back from takeaways, the numbers rank between disappointing and disgusting.

The Bears have dropped drastically after a hot start in the red zone.

They currently rank 21st at 50% touchdowns but after three games they were third at 85.71%.

"As always we need to be efficient running the ball down there," coach Ben Johnson said. "I think it usually starts with that."

The running game is starting to sort itself out overall. The Bears still have only one receiver with more than one TD catch this season, and that's Rome Odunze. And he hasn't had one the last two games.

"I think the passing game, I think we can do a better job throughout the week just making sure we all see it the same," Johnson said. "Normally that stuff goes in at the end of the week. You only get one (practice) rep of it, and it’s a little bit newer, particularly some of those designer concepts.

"There’s been a few of those where the defense hasn’t given us the coverage we wanted or, you know, we simply haven’t done a good job progressing to the next fast enough. That’s something Caleb’s learning. I think he’ll be better there."

Getting through progression fast enough simply hasn't been Williams regardless of where he has been on the field. He's currently the slowest QB to get rid of the ball in the league at 3.17 seconds, worse now even than Justin Fields (2.98), who appears headed for the bench.

Whether this really matters is open to debate. Jalen Hurts is at 3.03 seconds and before his injury Brock Purdy was at 3.04.

Williams is tied for 21st in red zone passing touchdowns with four, but all four came from inside the 10-yard line. He's tied for 17th in TD passes inside the 10. He's 26th in red zone completion percentage at 58.3%.

They've reached paydirt on only four of their last 13 ventures inside the opponent's 20.

On the season, the Odunze has TD catches of 1 and 6 yards, Cole Kmet a 10-yarder and DJ Moore a 4-yarder.

The Bears are like most teams and forcus red zone practice on one day, usually Friday. Considering how Johnson said they only get a limited number of reps inside the red zone, it might be time to expand the number of reps they're getting in that area of the field because it's starting to look like quick sand slowing down an otherwise productive attack.

Last year, the offense of Shane Waldron and Thomas Brown finished seventh in red zone scoring at 62.1% TDs.

Williams has his idea of how they can get it to work better by the goal line.

"Better execution from all of us," the Bears QB said. "That's what red zone comes down to. The cornerbacks and safeties and linebackers don't have to drop as much and as far, so it comes down to better execution. Landmarks, me being on point with that — speaking of pass game, mainly. And then run game, it just comes down to execution also."

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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.