The Bears don’t have to apologize for the Nerf portion of their schedule, but if they want to make a donation to their favorite charity as a show of gratitude, that would be nice.
The spongy part started with a 36-10 victory over the not-very-good Panthers last week and continues Sunday with a game in London against the also-not-very-good Jaguars. After a bye and what appears to be a serious Week 8 opponent in the Commanders, it’s back to Easier Street with games against the Cardinals and Patriots.
I don’t mean to imply that the Bears are inherently superior to those average to below-average teams. They’re what they are, a 3-2 outfit. But there’s no doubt that they’re in the comfortable part of the season and that the comfiness serves a purpose at the right time. It allows rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to learn without learning hard lessons. Theoretically. The idea is to keep him on the upward trajectory that had him throwing for 304 yards and two touchdowns against Carolina. The idea is that when the final eight games arrive – Green Bay, Minnesota, at Detroit, at San Francisco, at Minnesota, Detroit, Seattle and at Green Bay – Williams will be that much more confident. And with added confidence and experience comes … success?
That’s the plan. All of this is predicated on the notion that the offensive line will remember to block for him. You can see why this feels a bit like a house of cards, but at least for the next five weeks, the house is made of aces and face cards and situated on a Blackjack table.
If you’re a Bears fan, consider this a gift from the football gods. Too many young quarterbacks have felt the unbearable weight of expectations and of large, talented opponents too soon in their careers. It took Sam Darnold years to play like the Jets expected him to play when they took him with the third overall pick in 2018. Now he seems to be blossoming – with the 5-0 Vikings, and only because they had to turn to him when rookie J.J. McCarthy hurt his knee in the preseason. Through five games, Darnold has career highs in completion percentage (63.5) and passer rating (103.4). It helps that he’s finally playing with a good team.
Even Trevor Lawrence, the Bears’ opponent Sunday, is struggling this season. He came into 2024 with back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons. Did he suddenly become mediocre, a lesser version of himself? Or is playing quarterback simply a heavy load, even for a former No. 1 overall pick who’s had success in the NFL? I’ll go with B) it ain’t easy.
There’s no guarantee Williams will benefit from the Bears’ friendly stretch – or even that he’ll play well. But it’s better than the alternative, which would have him facing in mid-October the murderer’s row that starts for the Bears in mid-November.
Eyebrows have already started to rise about the Bears’ decision to take Williams over Washington’s Jayden Daniels. Daniels has completed an NFL-best 77.1% of his passes and is averaging 8.7 yards per attempt for the 4-1 Commanders. But he’s faced the Buccaneers, the Giants, the Bengals, the Cardinals and the Browns. Sounds like the soft stretch that Williams started on last week.
Every team is a work in progress, but the Bears feel like more of one than most. The offensive line is still either a mystery or a drama, pick a genre. It took three games before D’Andre Swift looked remotely like the running back he had been in Philadelphia and Detroit. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron seemed to have found a rhythm calling plays last week, but the mind still hasn’t recovered from the option pitch he called at the Colts’ one-yard line in Week 3, the one that resulted in a 12-yard loss for Swift.
There are things to build on. Williams hasn’t scratched the surface with his running ability. One of the refreshing things about him is that he looks to throw no matter the situation. His predecessor, Justin Fields, usually took off at the first hint of trouble. It’s a thrower’s league, which is why the Steelers still aren’t sure if they have a quarterback. When Williams decides to take off with the ball a bit more regularly, it will add an element of surprise that hasn’t been on display in the first five games. Until now, he’s used his running to avoid pressure in the pocket. Some of his escapes have been Mahomes-esque.
When you have enough success, even against sub-par competition, you start to believe in yourself. You don’t think your Ws should be downgraded to lower case. You just think you’re winning. The Bears might get the surprise of their lives when they face Minnesota and Detroit, might have a nightmarish wakeup call, but the opposite also is possible: They might just believe themselves into competing with the big boys.
The NFL put the schedule together. Bears general manager Ryan Poles didn’t morph into a college athletic director looking for non-conference red meat to start the season. So an apology? That will only be necessary if the Bears play poorly against softer competition over the next month.