Williams reacts to loss to Texans: “We got to find the right calls” |
HOUSTON, T.X. - If you were hoping to see improvement from the Chicago Bears offense when they faced the Houston Texans in their first away game and primetime game of the season, you were mightily disappointed. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams finished the game with 23 completions for 174 yards and two interceptions.
The defense challenged Williams a lot throughout the game, particularly when he was getting blitzed. “There’s always challenges. That’s the defense’s job to make a challenge for the offense, myself, and things like that,” Williams said. “Could have used a couple more calls and coming out of half and things like that when they tried to start blitzing, got to it later in the quarters and things like that. After (I) got to the sideline, they called a few times and things like that. So, every week’s going to be a challenge. Every week, it’s tough to go out there and win games.” Williams was sacked seven times in this game; the most Chicago has allowed in a game since the Bears allowed quarterback Justin Fields to be sacked seven times against the Detroit Lions in January 2022. During the 36 games Matt Eberflus has been the Bears' coach, Chicago’s quarterbacks have been sacked 122 times. Given their history with poor offensive lines and the number of times Williams has already been sacked, it will be paramount for him to take care of his body throughout this season if he is going to be available the entire year. “I’m a little bruised up, took a couple of hits (Sunday),” Williams said. “I’m (going to) get ice tubs, do all the things that I need to do to make sure that my body’s ready for tomorrow and practice on other days and, obviously, the next game.” It should be noted that the Bears have not had one quarterback start every game in the entire regular season since 2009, when Jay Cutler started all 16 games. So, quarterbacks staying healthy has not been a strong suit for the Bears either. That starts with Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who is in charge of the offensive play calling. If the blitz continues to be this much of a problem, Williams will undoubtedly sustain an injury this season. “We got to find the right calls. I got to find the right calls at the line of scrimmage,” Williams said. “We got to get the play in, huddle, sequence, all of that, get up to the line, do all these other things so we can go out there and execute.” What Williams was most concerned about after Sunday’s loss, however, was the execution of the offense. His interceptions were both a result of miscommunication, particularly on the first one when wide receiver DJ Moore ran a perfect route, and the ball was underthrown, allowing the defender to make a play on the ball. He also had an intentional grounding call that could have been avoided if there was a receiver in the area. Some balls could have been big plays, and Moore appeared visibly frustrated during the game. “I think it just comes down to detail, execution. I think that’s always where it comes from. Watching tonight, we were moving the ball pretty well (in the) first half, it felt like, and then (in the) second half, kind of got shaky and out of hand for us and things like that,” Williams said. “So, just understanding that, understanding where we were good at, where we weren’t, and making the corrections throughout this week.” With their first loss of the season and the results of the other games in the NFC North, Chicago (1-1) drops into a three-way tie for second in the division with the Detroit Lions, who lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Green Bay Packers, who got their first win of the season against the Indianapolis Colts. The Bears will face the Colts on Sunday, Sept. 22 (Noon/CBS).
