Watching Caleb Williams and the Bears offense through the first four games just left me frustrated. One of the worst run games in the NFL, combined with a rookie QB who is throwing the ball a lot in some dire situations, finished off with playcalling that has left a lot to be desired. Just a petri dish of poor offense.
However, the Bears turned a corner against the Panthers, and while yes it is the Panthers, they did a lot of stuff that just looked a lot more well-put together and cohesive.
For Williams specifically, it felt like the gameplan had a bit more easy buttons built in that he was able to exploit. A whole lot more motion in the passing game, to start: Williams’ 20 dropbacks with any sort of motion was the highest of any game this season, and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron did a good job of using motion to create overloaded sides against a lot of Cover 3 on Sunday.
This was a nifty one, faking a motion with the back out to the left, then sending him in orbit motion to the formation’s right. The Bears run a simple concept out of this, a two man stick concept to Williams’ right and then a three man spacing concept to the left. Williams wants the stick concept, turns it down. He then decides to flip to his right to get to the spacing and probably could hit WR Rome Odunze here, but this ball to Kmet is nice and easy, just simple offense that he doesn’t make too difficult on himself.
Williams threw two touchdowns to former Panther DJ Moore, but the second one was the prettiest in terms of process meeting up with the results.
The Bears motion TE Cole Kmet over to make the formation three receivers to one side and Moore the lone receiver on the other side. We just noted how much Cover 3 the Panthers play, but they played it especially against trips. Williams said after the game that he was the one that made the check to the right side, and saw the alignment change. When he confirmed it was Cover 3, then he was able to read this out so much quicker. WR Keenan Allen runs down the seam, occupying the lone safety and leaving DJ Moore one-on-one with inside leverage. Look at the anticipation on this throw.
The whole process by Williams is pretty darn good, and a sign of his constant growth in the NFL.
Another area where I think the Bears’ offense really started to pop was in the rollout game.
I think with Williams’ ability to throw on the move combined with just the overall stimuli the NFL game is throwing at the rookie, using play action and getting Williams on the move would be an incredibly smart thing to do for the Bears. It’s not a major sample size, but SIS charts the Bears with three bootleg dropbacks, their second highest of the season. With the Bears’ offensive line in the shape that they’re in, using rollouts will help everyone on the team.
Again, it’s the Panthers, but their total EPA on rollouts was the highest of the season on Sunday. Just simple offense like this that could make a world of difference for the Bears.
It’s hard to be patient in the NFL, but Williams has already showed tremendous progres through five weeks. They can’t play the Panthers every week, but Chicago laid the foundation for offensive success in the future. Getting a performance like this could settle Williams for the season ahead.
