ATLANTA — Bears quarterback Caleb Williams stepped up in the pocket, shuffled right and started sprinting toward the sideline. He looked downfield until he locked eyes with his biggest target, then threw across his body toward tight end Colston Loveland, who was sandwiched between two Falcons defenders at the goal line.
Loveland caught the ball as he was smacked by the two players for the first touchdown of the Bears’ 31-23 victory Sunday against the Falcons. Williams soon delivered another hit — a gentle head bump — before taking off his helmet and celebrating on the sideline.
‘‘Just let it rip,’’ Williams said. ‘‘Let the emotions rip.’’
It was a show of emotion a month in the making, ever since Williams suffered a torn right hamstring in the fourth quarter of a Week 2 loss against the Vikings. And it was a spark the Bears desperately needed in the wake of a 31-7 thrashing at the hands of the Packers a week ago.
Williams’ performance was much more than a ball of emotion, however. He was a stone-cold assassin, completing 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and a 111.2 passer rating. He completed his first 12 passes, including a third-down hook-and-ladder to wide receiver Rome Odunze, who shoveled the ball to running back Roschon Johnson. It set up the touchdown to Loveland, who finished with a season-high 65 yards on six catches.
In a clean pocket, Williams went 24-for-24 for 248 yards, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. No NFL quarterback has completed that many passes without an incompletion since at least 2018.
‘‘Let the emotions fly,’’ Williams said. ‘‘But when it’s time to be in control, when it’s time to lock in and look the guys in the eyes, they want to feel your control over yourself, your control of the huddle. And then from there we can go out there and execute.’’
It was one of the best performances of Williams’ career. Given the stakes, it might have been the most important. The Bears were at a ‘‘crossroads,’’ coach Ben Johnson said, after losing to the Packers. Williams reset their direction. His teammates felt it.
‘‘He has the juice,’’ Odunze said.
As an added bonus, Williams said his hamstring wasn’t sore after the game, though he’ll need to continue treatment for it through the rest of the season. Williams ran four times for three yards, including a two-yard sneak for a first down with 2:46 lefty. That was far different than his last complete game, when he ran 10 times for 65 yards in Week 1.
This was the dream scenario the Bears had in mind when they decided to start Williams a week after Tyson Bagent struggled against the Packers. The plan started with a brief meeting in Johnson’s office early last week.
‘‘I walked in his office, dapped him up and said, ‘Let’s get this going this week,’ ’’ Williams said. ‘‘And I walked out after that.’’
The energy from Williams’ return crackled through the stadium. The Bears led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and never trailed. There were so many Bears fans inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium that the Falcons practiced all week with crowd noise and used a silent count on offense. The crowd erupted with every Williams success.
The Bears’ defense felt the energy, too, giving up seven points through the first three quarters. The Falcons rallied for 16 points in the fourth and marched for a touchdown against Bears backups before Johnson put the starters back in. The Bears were trying to lighten the defensive workload with a game Thursday against the Patriots, Johnson said, but reversed course to lock down the victory.
The Bears’ special-teamers got in on the act, too, recovering a fumbled kickoff and a muffed punt — the latter on Tory Taylor’s curving ‘‘banana ball’’ — that contributed to 10 points.
‘‘The fact that we started fast, really in all three phases, was huge for us, as well as something that we had also talked about the night before,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘If you could write a script, that’s what we would want to do against a team like this. We’ve got to come out of the gate hot.’’
Earlier in the week, it was Williams who was hot. He used his first news conference since Sept. 23 to rail against what he said were erroneous reports about the severity of his injury. What went unspoken was his
annoyance with those who mocked him leaving the game against the Vikings emotional and on a golf cart.
Williams made no mention of that beef after the game. But as he jogged to the locker room after the victory, he looked at the assembled media and, with a smile, paraphrased an old Kirk Cousins line.
‘‘Y’all like that?’’ he said.
The answer from the teammates waiting for him in the locker room — and from fans at home and in the stadium — was a resounding yes.
When Williams entered the locker room, he got a game ball. He told his teammates how hard it was to fight through the injury.
‘‘It was just me having a consistent positive mindset throughout the weeks over myself — and about myself — of being able to get back, trying to get back, fighting to get back,’’ Williams said. ‘‘And when I get back, just to show them who I am. And who we are.’’