INDIANAPOLIS — The Bears couldn’t run when they needed to and gave the ball away when they couldn’t, losing by 21-16 to the winless Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams fumbled with seven minutes to play and the Bears down by five and threw two other interceptions. With no run game to speak of, Williams threw a whopping 52 times, completing 33 passes for 363 yards and a 80.8 passer rating. Williams had 267 passing yards all season before Sunday’s game.
Both touchdowns Williams threw came with the Bears down two scores.
The Colts’ Anthony Richardson was worse, but the Bears couldn’t take advantage.
Trailing 7-0, Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson intercepted Richardson on the first play of the second half. The Bears went only 18 yards on five plays, though, and settled for a 53-yard Cairo Santos field goal.
Later in the third quarter, the Bears were gifted a first down when the Colts were flagged for roughing punter Tory Taylor, who was kicking out of his own end zone. On the next play, Williams threw the ball up the left sideline for fellow rookie Rome Odunze. He leapt and the ball hit him in the hands. It ricocheted to cornerback Jaylon Jones, who caught the ball with one hand and got both feet in bounds.
The Colts couldn’t make the Bears pay, though. On fourth-and-3 from the Bears’ 38, they ran Jonathan Taylor up the middle. He was stuffed.
After the Bears went three-and-out, the Colts put together their steadiest drive of the game, a nine-play, 80-yard series that ended with Trey Sermon’s one-yard touchdown run. The Bears had a chance to get off the field after forcing the Colts to line up for a punt, but Daniel Hardy jumped offside when the long snapper nodded his head. The Colts were awarded a first down.
Down 14-3, Williams rallied. It took seven minutes, but the Bears eventually scored their second offensive touchdown of the year. On first-and-goal at the 1, Williams floated a pass to Odunze. It marked the first career touchdown for both players, and they playfully fought over the ball on the sideline. The Bears went for two and failed, and trailed 14-9.
After forcing a punt, Williams had a chance to march the Bears to a win. On the first play, Williams dropped back and looked deep. As he stepped up into the pocket, he was hit by rookie defensive end Laiatu Latu and fumbled the ball forward. The Colts’ Grover Stewart recovered it at the 16.
For the third-straight week, the Bears showed a complete inability to run the ball.
When they faced second-and-goal at the 2 with 1:55 to play in the second quarter, they ran the ball once for one yard, once for no gain and then, in a colossal failure, lost 12 yards when Williams ran a speed option play to the left. He pitched the ball to D’Andre Swift who, seeing no path to the end zone, doubled back in an attempt to gain yards. He did not.
In the first half, both quarterbacks followed deep throws with colossal mistakes. Richardson found Alec Pierce, who had slipped behind Johnson, for a 44-yard completion two minutes into the second quarter. Three plays later, from the Bears’ 3, Richardson was hit by linebacker Jack Sanborn and floated an interception to Tremaine Edmunds in the end zone.
Williams took a deep shot on the next play, finding Odunze for a 47-yard completion — the longest play the Bears have managed all season — up the left sideline. Three plays later, Williams was late in throwing a hitch route to DeAndre Carter and was picked off by Jaylon Jones.
It took the Colts only three plays to go 70 yards after the interception, thanks to a 40-yard pass to tight end Kylen Granson and a 29-yard touchdown run by Taylor.