CINCINNATI — After all the offseason hype, anything but a stellar performance from Caleb Williams on Saturday night would have felt disappointing.
What Bears fans got in their first look at the starting quarterback Saturday, he was anything but stellar.
Playing against second- and third-string Bengals players, Williams went 2-for-5 for 27 yards and a 58.8 passer rating in his only drive during the Bears’ 27-9 loss. The Bears settled for a 45-yard Cairo Santos field goal after Williams overthrew Colston Loveland near the goal line and had a third-down miscommunication with receiver Rome Odunze.
That’s not close to 70%, the completion percentage that coach Ben Johnson has so publicly set for his quarterback. Sure, Williams played just seven snaps, but it’s possible to seize momentum in so short a time. The Packers’ Jordan Love played 11 snaps a night earlier, completed 71% of his passes and finished with a 134.5 passer rating.
The fact Williams played at all was a surprise. Head coach Ben Johnson had been non-committal about Johnson playing an exhibition game, claiming he’d make the decision after the Bears and Bengals had a joint practice Thursday. He’d said he didn’t necessarily need to see Williams play a preseason game at all this offseason.
Complicating matters was the fact that Tyson Bagent, the team’s second-string quarterback, did not make the trip to Cincinnati after hurting his hamstring in the preseason opener. Before the game, Johnson told the Bears’ pregame show on ESPN 1000 that Williams was “prepared to play as long as he needs to for our offense.”
In the next game, the Bears should let Case Keenum handle that. He’s played 80 career games. That’s why he’s here — not to play in the regular season. After taking over for Williams, the 38-year-old went 9-for-17 for 119 yards the rest of the first half. The Bears went to fourth-string rookie Miller Moss for the second half.
Johnson will undoubtedly want to see more from Williams in the three weeks before the Bears open in Carolina. That should be limited to practice, though.
Johnson scheduled his team to leave town for three nights two weeks in a row because he wanted them to find their groove in the practices, not the game. Starters get more work in joing practices than they do in games — and the quarterback can go untouched.
Johnson should focus on what Williams does against the Titans during practice in Nashville on Thursday — and not play him in the Bears’ final exhibition game Saturday. The injury risk isn’t worth it.
On the first drive at Paycor Stadium, Williams didn’t have a single highlight throw, a stark contrast from the clips of him that were pumped through the NFL universe all offseason.
Ever since he launched the back-pedaling touchdown pass to Cole Kmet — in a game the tight end has to remind his own friends that the Bears actually lost — Williams has been one of the faces of the NFL. He was put on the cover of “Madden 27” and got NFL 100 votes. Jaguars coach Liam Coen even joked that he couldn’t go to the NFL’s web site without seeing “40 photos of Caleb Williams.”
Williams’ best pass was his first. After faking a toss right to running back Roschon Johnson, Williams rolled left and, with Cedric Johnson rushing toward him with his left hand in the air, hit Rome Odunze is stride for 18 yards. He then wobbled a quick pass to Colston Loveland for 10 yards and a first down.
The next time he threw toward Loveland, Williams should have had a touchdown. Instead, he threw the ball too high for the tight end, who tumbled to the ground at the 3. The fact the Bears have had Williams focus on not only completion percentage, but ball placement, made the overthrow that much more egregious.
Williams’ last pass to Odunze fell incomplete, despite the receiver’s pleas for a flag. In between were two ugly plays at the line of scrimmage: left tackle Braxton Jones being called for a holding penalty and Williams having a pass batted down.
The Bengals thought so little of Saturday night’s exhibition that they started 40-year-old third-stringer Josh Johnson, who has played for 14 different NFL teams, a record for quarterbacks, plus stints with AAF’s San Diego Fleet and the XFL’s Los Angeles Wildcats.
Playing alongside fellow backups, Johnson marched the Bengals 62 yards on 14 plays on the opening drive against the Bears’ starting defense. After the Bears put in their backups, Johnson hung back-to-back touchdowns to end the first half. Sean Clifford, their fourth-string quarterback, threw a touchdown to start the third quarter.
By then, Williams was on the sideline doing what he should have been doing — sitting down. And likely regretting that his in-game debut Saturday night didn’t go better.