Caleb Williams almost laid the blame.
Then he changed his mind.
The Chicago Bears rookie quarterback did not deny losing a fumble in the third quarter. But for a moment, he didn’t seem comfortable owning it.
What happened on the pass he started to throw and lost in a move backwards enough to warrant a fumble?
“As far as timing goes, we were just – myself – a little bit late,” Williams said following a 38-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. “So I was throwing the ball and the timing was a little off. I held the ball and my hand was still moving forward and it was ruled a fumble.
The play in question was far from the Bears’ first mistake.
Yes, the Bears wasted the opportunity to cut the lead to just a touchdown (plus a successful 2-point conversion) and the field goal caused this drive to end in the end zone rather than a score. ‘business. Instead, the 49ers took advantage of their gifted possession to drive 62 yards in five plays, extending their lead to 25 points.
But ESPN’s analytics detailing the probability of victory at every point of play in the game reflect how improbable a comeback already was. The Bears had a 4.9 percent chance of winning before the fumble, according to ESPN’s model. They then had a 1.7% chance.
So Williams’ correction from “we” to “myself” in taking responsibility was not intended to accurately reflect how devastating that snap was after a much more debilitating first half for a Chicago team trying to regroup in his first match after firing of head coach Matt Eberflus.
Williams’ correction is rather important because it reflects an understanding that the full context of the piece may not have been the best response to share at that time.
Did Williams’ catcher suddenly misdirect his route, creating hesitation on a throw he all but stopped throwing? Did Williams’ protection slide to the wrong side, thereby not allowing enough time to develop the route Williams wanted to run on that second-and-eight play call?
Maybe even interim head coach Thomas Brownin his fourth game calling Chicago plays and his first game also handling the entire operation, did not initiate the play call in a manner that Williams fully understood. None of that was the issue.
What mattered about Williams’ response was that he addressed responsibility, rather than shying away from it.
After Brown was blamed in his comments to the locker room and to reporters, Williams may have realized that he, too, had more to gain than to lose by taking ownership of the matter.
“I’ll start with what I addressed with the team: We got our butts kicked,” Brown began in his first postgame press conference as head coach. “We will always be frank, honest and open about what happened.”
The bears collapsed early, then couldn’t regroup quickly enough
A popular football adage is that no game is over until time runs out.
Coaches like to preach that at halftime the score might as well be 0-0 and that players need to perfect their efforts and focus accordingly.
Well, Chicago had no points. But San Francisco had 24.
The Bears passed for 4 yards in the first half as a team, their fewest since 1991. And they allowed 319 to the 49ers before halftime, the largest 315-yard differential of any NFL game this season. season at halftime, according to broadcast graphics.
The Bears’ 0.2 yards per play was the third lowest a team has averaged in the first half since 2012, by TruMedia Sports.
Brown was then asked: How does he come to understand this massive divide?
“I don’t,” he said. “We got our butts kicked. Like I said, I didn’t stay on the turf offensively. Didn’t convert on third down. And obviously we gave up too much explosiveness on defense.
The problems the Bears faced were multi-faceted, with some reflecting Chicago’s weaknesses and others speaking more to the 49ers’ strengths. On offense, the Bears relied too heavily on the pass in the first half and found themselves at unfavorable yardage on third down. Williams took seven sacks, continuing his reign as the league’s most sacked player.
On defense, the 49ers relied on a scheme that tight end George Kittle said he used against teams designed by Eberflus during the coach’s time as defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, head coach of the Bears and now neither.
“They do a lot of things with the way they do stunts (to) increase their pressure and we knew if we could catch them in one of those on a screen, they would be completely off balance,” Kittle said after a monster day in which he racked up 151 yards on just six targets. “They just played completely upfield and then our offensive line did a great job blocking.
“The way they got on the field and our defense did it, we thought we could exploit that.”
The Bears opened the third quarter smoother, with a balance of passing leading to efficiency on first and second down, which ultimately fueled a nine-plus-minute touchdown drive.
Chicago’s defense forced a three-and-out immediately afterward, hinting at a second-half comeback that could resemble the Bears’ recent slow starts. Ten days earlier, the Detroit Lions had dominated Chicago 16-0 in the first half before the Bears scored 23 points to Detroit’s seven in the second half.
Williams found receiver Rome Odunze for 17 yards, chemistry building between the other rookies who would also score two touchdowns together at Levi’s Stadium. He found Keenan Allen for 14 and ran 2 yards out of bounds.
Then, Williams completed his throw but turned around letting the ball slide, causing the ball to slide backwards rather than forward as defensive lineman Evan Anderson approached. Replay review confirmed a fumble.
After some thought, Williams also confirmed one.
“We started to get something going and I ended up fumbling the ball, I guess,” Williams said, before rethinking his wording and settling for a clearer delivery. “No, I guess, I ended up fumbling the ball.” And our momentum and things like that from there started to go down and they’re scoring again. When you have points on turnovers and you’re already down, it’s tough.
“We have to screw our screws and we have to be precise. That’s not what happened today.
What can Chicago build on from here?
Accountability won’t win Bears games. Nor will ongoing communication issues and operational disconnects.
Brown refused to blame the quick turnaround, instead saying “I don’t make excuses” and that the outcome of a loss is what he will focus on most.
But Kittle’s comments about what went well for the 49ers stood in stark contrast to the Bears’ situation.
The tight end explained how three years in the system helped Brock Purdy achieve his 325-yard, two-touchdown day, while Kittle’s veteran status worked to his advantage rather than his disadvantage.
“(Purdy) is very comfortable in this offense now and I’ve been running it for eight years, so it’s fun to be back there and just know, ‘Hey, I’m getting the ball no matter what.’ he’s coming,’ so when the ball hits “I think coach (Kyle) Shanahan calls plays and when you call plays and you guess right against certain defenses, that’s how you end up wide open. Sometimes.”
Williams, for his part, dug deeper into his Rolodex of euphemisms to describe how the musical chairs coaching staff influenced the staff’s effectiveness in communicating with him.
“When you have these promotions, when you have these situations that we had, with coaches being fired and things like us, people are gaining or being promoted to new jobs and there are new things that they have to deal with.” , Williams said. “So when you have to add more to what you’re already doing and it’s something new and live bullets are flying, there’s going to be every now and then – things are going to happen, the communication is going to be different than this that she was in the previous position you were in because you have a lot more to do.
“But I think we did well today with the situation that happened.”
The Bears didn’t do well in terms of execution, particularly in the first half when they fell into a hole so deep that it was statistically unlikely they would climb out. And Williams didn’t do well turning the ball over to make that hole worse, with the next score also reflecting the defense’s inability to stop the Niners.
But a better second half than the first half gives Chicago a fight to build on, and open ownership from the head coach and quarterback may allow Chicago to develop habits even if they won’t be favored to stack a lot more wins on top of their current. Record 4-9.
“I have to do a better job of putting together a better game plan on both sides of the ball, so they can execute better, and obviously continue to challenge our guys to be at their best,” Brown said . “Also encourage these guys and also demand that we always remain united. It’s a grown man thing: There’s no giving up or giving up on our football team, which I love.
“The goal is to win football games and we didn’t win. So that will be my only goal today and moving forward.