For the first time since 2018, the Chicago Bears have won four games in a row. Although that isn't anything to brag about, it is very important for this young team and its rookie head coach.
Although this is Caleb Williams' second season in the league, for all intents and purposes, he is still a rookie. It is actually a miracle he isn't worse than a rookie right now. The Chicago Bears were such a dysfunctional dumpster fire last year that it is a miracle that Caleb Williams is still standing let alone accomplishing anything in the NFL. Last year, the Bears changed offensive coordinators twice and fired the head coach during the season. Sadly during that time, they did almost nothing to teach Caleb Williams how to be an NFL quarterback and they kept putting him in positions to get crushed on the field.
But that is over now. The bears have a rookie head coach who at least knows how to call a professional football offense. he also knows how to teach a quarterback how to improve, and Williams is doing just that. He still struggles with decision making and accuracy... but like I said, he's basically a rookie and that is common for rookies. But each week, you see signs of him learning from mistakes and making some "oh wow" inducing plays. He has a on of talent and potential. And now he actually has someone who can help harness and develop that talent.
Even with the improvement, the Bears are still a work in progress. they still struggle to really get into an offensive rhythm where all of their weapons are involved. Right now it seems like each player is getting "their turn" rather than the offense just naturally flowing where all of the talent gets to eat. They still have not figured out how to get the tight ends involved on a regular basis. But perhaps they will be the next area of focus. It seems the first few weeks centered on featuring the wide receivers. The last two weeks were clearly dedicated to learning how to run the ball. This definitely paid off as the run blocking and performance of multiple running backs has been the reason they won the last two games. D'andre Swift has looked especially great during the past two games with him rushing for 232 yards on 33 carries for an average of a whopping 7 yards per carry. He also added 81 receiving yard to that for a total of 313 yards over the past two games.
Head coach Ben Johnson has also made some really good calls and challenges during this four game stretch... but he still needs to continue to improve. Hopefully today he learned that when a guy is exhausted, you can't call his number three plays in a row. that is exactly what Johnson did in the second half of today's game. The aforementioned D'andre Swift rattled off two awesome 15 yard runs in a run. In both runs, he hit the hole like a guy shot out of a cannon and made some cuts to actually cover more like 50 yards than 30. After the second run, it was blatantly obvious that Swift needed a breather. But instead of giving him that breather, Johnson had him run the ball three times in a row. It resulted in the bears not scoring from inside the 10 yard line and having to settle for a field goal. This was especially annoying as rookie running back Kyle Monangai was having his best game as a pro. On the three plays Swift ran, the holes were there, but he could not hit them with the shot out of a cannon speed he showed on the two previous plays. Luckily for teh bears they were already up big and those four points did not decide the game, but it is definitely something for Johnson to study and learn from. This isn't Madden Football. It's not a video game where your players don't get tired. They are humans. They have limitations and coaches need to learn those limitations. If this were Derrick Henry, those 15 yard runs would be energizing him and fueling him with even more power. Swift is not Henry... few humans are. As an NFL head coach you need to know your personal and make moves accordingly.
This is not the look of a man who would settle for anything less than perfection.
Luckily for the first time in my lifetime, I actually feel like the Bears have a coach who is eager to learn from his mistakes and to improve. I don't sense stubbornness from Johnson. I sense a desire to win no matter what./ that is a breath of fresh air in Chicago. And if any of you want to argue Mike Ditka was that type of coach, I would like to remind you that William Perry was given an opportunity to score a touchdown in the 1985 Super Bowl but the greatest football player ever, Walter Payton, was not.
