The Bears had just finished celebrating their first win of the season — ugly offense and all — when Rome Odunze was asked how fellow rookie Caleb Williams would bounce back from a historically bad stat line for an NFL debut.
“That’s one of the most competitive dudes I know,” Odunze said. “He’s got that Michael Jordan makeup to go make something happen.”
Williams didn’t look like Jordan on Sunday, but his performance doesn’t disqualify him from eventually having a similar grip on the city.
In a 24-17 victory against the Titans at Soldier Field, Williams completed 14 of 29 passes for 93 yards and was sacked twice. Of the 53 plays the Bears ran, 29 went for a yard or less.
To rally from a 17-0 deficit with 30 seconds to play in the first half, the Bears relied on three field goals by Cairo Santos, a blocked punt that was returned for a 21-yard score by safety Jonathan Owens and a pick-six that Tyrique Stevenson ran into the north end zone from 43 yards.
Williams lost his voice screaming for Stevenson. He said he predicted the pick-six to Bears assistant Ryan Griffin on the sideline.
“It shows a bunch of the personality of this team,” Williams said “The fight, the resiliency that we had.”
Sometimes it felt as though the Bears were fighting to overcome their own offense. They didn’t score a touchdown on offense. When they kicked field goals, it was to end drives in which they averaged three yards per play.
That wasn’t the plan when the team added running back D’Andre Swift (10 carries, 30 yards), tight end Gerald Everett (one catch, minus-one yard) and wide receivers Keenan Allen (four catches, 29 yards) and Rome Odunze (one catch, 11 yards) this offseason.
Or when they drafted Williams.
“I missed a few passes that I normally don’t miss,” Williams said. “I think the small things always lead up to big things and make those moments a lot bigger. They make games a lot closer.”
The Bears know Williams will have growing pains. Among them: Williams taking a 19-yard sack in the first quarter that pushed the Bears out of field-goal range and a stretch of plays in the third quarter in which they had a delay of game, false start and sack on consecutive plays. Each led to the Bears punting on fourth-and-30 — and the Soldier Field faithful booing.
The Bears’ fifth-longest play was a fluke, too. With 1:30 left in the first half, Williams threw a slant pass off a defender’s helmet. The ball shot up in the air, and Odunze rebounded it for his first NFL catch, only to fumble when he was hit by Amani Hooker. Guard Teven Jenkins recovered the fumble for an 11-yard gain.
“It can get rough,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “You’ve just gotta hang in there. And you’ve got to have that belief — belief in the man next to you, belief in your teammates.
“It’s not just about one guy.”
All eyes, though, are on that one guy.
Since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, 30 quarterbacks have been picked first overall. Williams’ 55.7 passer rating in his first career start was the 11th-worst among them, but the Bears can take comfort that players with worse ratings turned into stars: John Elway (0.0), Terry Bradshaw (19.3), Matthew Stafford (27.4), Troy Aikman (40.2) and Eli Manning (45.1) all won Super Bowls.
Williams is only the sixth No. 1 overall pick to throw for fewer than 100 yards in his first start. The others: Elway (14), Michael Vick (32), Bradshaw (70), Alex Smith (74) and Steve Bartkowski (81).
That Williams could struggle and still win speaks to the Bears’ defense, which bullied Titans quarterback Will Levis into a 52.5 passer rating.
Statistically, Williams wasn’t the worst quarterback on the field. It’s impossible to think the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner had ever had such a frustrating performance, but he argued that he just had one in October.
“I hate that you bring it up,” he said with a grimace.
Williams pointed to a 48-20 loss at Notre Dame in which, using the NFL’s passer-rating formula, the USC star had a 51.5. General manager Ryan Poles was at the game and came away impressed. He wanted to see how Williams would react to adversity and was pleased with the attitude he saw. It was one of the many reasons the Bears had no doubt Williams was the right pick at No. 1.
They still believe that after this game, which gave the Bears their first winning record in almost two years.
“The team around him played better in the second half,” Eberflus said. “We just need to keep doing that as he grows and develops because he is a talent. He’s smart as a whip and knows the offense, and we’ve got to keep playing well around him as he grows and improves.
“He’s going to learn a lot these first three or four games in terms of the NFL look, the NFL speed and all of the things we have to do.”
Williams will be better.
“Whether it’s a win or loss, you expect to play a certain way, you expect yourself to perform a certain way, to make passes — whether it’s just a routine pass or an insane kind,” he said. “That didn’t happen, so it’s enough motivation for me.”