In a 29-9 loss in which the Bears never got to the end zone and only reached the red zone once, a lot went wrong on offense.
The offensive line, down a starter, struggled. The receivers couldn’t consistently get open. The run game wasn’t effective enough. The play calling could’ve been better.
And quarterback Caleb Williams could’ve taken more singles instead of looking for extra-base hits.
Watched the tape on Caleb Williams vs. AZ…
Wants to throw home runs — instead of taking the profit (open underneath targets). Anticipation on MOF concepts can improve. Voluntarily throwing off-platform leads to accuracy issues. Has to trust the pocket. #Bears
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) November 4, 2024
Several times throughout the game, Williams had a seemingly easy completion for a few yards but wanted to go deep. The Bears certainly expected more success on the deep ball against the Cardinals, but it wasn’t happening, and too often, he didn’t even have time.
This All-22 breakdown comes with an obvious caveat — it’s a lot easier to dissect what we see when we pause the video than it is to play quarterback. We don’t know the progressions or assignments on each play. But the Bears can’t have games like Sunday’s when thinking about Williams through the long-term lens. They need to help create more easy buckets for him, and he has to take those when he can. Those will help create the shot plays. (All screenshots from NFL Pro.)
The Bears’ promising first drive stalled, but there should’ve been an opportunity on third-and-13 to either get into field goal range or at least set up a manageable fourth down.
The three wide receivers go out for routes. Running back Roschon Johnson stays in to help protect, and by the time he starts to leak out to be a pass-catching option, it’s too late for Williams. It’s a similar situation for tight end Cole Kmet, who gives an impressive forearm to rusher Mack Wilson before heading to the left flat — but Williams is already getting sacked.
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This isn’t a situation of Williams holding on to the ball too long. The three receivers are all tightly covered. It wasn’t right tackle Darnell Wright’s best rep, and right guard Matt Pryor eventually gets beat.
My question is, why wasn’t there a shorter route? Getting beyond the sticks is important, but this could’ve set up an opportunity at least for three points. Instead, Williams got sacked.
Late in the first quarter, on first-and-10, all five Bears pass catchers run routes. Meanwhile, Arizona sends an extra rusher. This is a play to get the ball out quickly.
Williams appears to first look at Kmet, who’s running a quick hitch in the middle of the field. This would be a 5-yard gain, nothing special, but they need those plays on first down. Instead, Williams goes to the left flat for fellow rookie Rome Odunze, who’s covered. By then, he’s being chased by Cardinals star safety Budda Baker.
From behind the play, here’s another look at Kmet. An anticipatory throw picks up a few yards to help make everything easier.
This is another example, though, of the Bears’ offensive line failing to pick up the blitzer and the Cardinals’ coverage being tight.
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Later in the second quarter, we see a good example of Williams going through his progressions and taking the checkdown. His first read is an out route to wide receiver DJ Moore to the left. Then he moves his eyes to Kmet over the middle. Both are covered, and he has enough time to wait for running back D’Andre Swift to get to the right flat.
Williams gets it to Swift, who eludes a tackler and goes for 7 yards and a first down.
Six plays later, it’s first down at the Arizona 37-yard line with 56 seconds left and the Bears have all three timeouts. Trailing 14-6, this play should’ve been part of putting them in position for a touchdown before halftime.
Instead, Williams gets sacked. It looks like he had an easy dump-off option to Johnson if he didn’t want to take a shot down the field.
Wide receiver Keenan Allen may be the next-best option as he runs his route, and eventually Kmet gets an opening, but if Williams didn’t want to take those chances, Johnson is right there for 5-10 yards. With three timeouts and it being first down, that would be the safe and efficient option.
The other issue with this play is when Williams decides to try to extend it, he runs into a sack. If he had been able to go to his left, he could’ve found room to run.
After the brutal end to the first half, when the Bears gave up a 53-yard touchdown run to go down 12, the opening drive to the second half was critical. Swift’s 1-yard run didn’t help, setting up second-and-9.
Williams’ first read is to his right, but both receivers are tightly covered.
If he has enough time, it looks like Kmet is about to get open for a big play over the middle. But the pocket is collapsing.
Watching from behind the play, left tackle Larry Borom gets blown up by Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins. Borom is pushed back from the explosive rush. Collins and Dante Stills, who has gotten leverage on Teven Jenkins at this point in the play, share the sack.
After an 11-yard play on third-and-16, the Bears are forced to punt, and Arizona responds with a 13-play field goal drive.
On second-and-7 after the Cardinals’ three points, the Bears are near midfield when offensive coordinator Shane Waldron dials up a misdirection. Williams fakes the handoff to Swift going to the left, with the rest of the offensive line, and Williams is on the move to his right.
We’ve seen plays like this work before. The threat of the run plus Williams’ ability to throw on the run has led to success. But the Cardinals don’t seem fooled here.
Still, it’s hard to see that none of the three options was viable for Williams as he heads to the sideline, ultimately scrambling for a 2-yard gain. Again, no one is wide open, but with Williams’ accuracy, we’ve seen him make tough throws like this.
After converting a fourth down, Williams takes a deep shot for Moore down the left sideline on second-and-10. Sure, the Bears are in slight desperation mode here down 15 late in the third quarter, but they came back from two scores down the week before in the fourth quarter.
It’d be a hole shot to Moore, a throw between the corner and safety. The corner, No. 16 Max Melton, is already retreating to Moore. That leaves Allen open. Kmet is also open.
Either of those throws would have gotten close to the first down. Williams goes for Moore, in traffic. A great throw and it would be a 20-yard gain. Instead, it sails over Moore’s head. Williams had a clean pocket, too.
This play seemed to be an example of a quarterback trying to do too much with his team down big. And considering the flow of that game, it’s understandable, but Williams and the offense would’ve had more success with the shorter throws.
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The next play began a string of three consecutive sacks for a Cardinals defense that had six sacks combined in its previous five games.
The route combination to Williams’ left, involving Odunze, Allen and Gerald Everett, should allow at least one to be open. But Williams doesn’t have time.
So what happened in the backfield? The Cardinals had an exotic rush package, though they sent only four. They had six on the line pre-snap but two dropped in coverage, and they sent three rushers against the left side of the Bears’ line.
One of those rushers, Wilson (No. 2) wins against Johnson, and then there had to be some miscommunication, because the Bears have three players blocking inside linebacker Kyzir White, while Collins loops around with a free path to Williams. The Bears’ rookie tries to scramble but gets brought down by White and Collins.
And then sometimes there was nothing Williams could do, like on the first play of the fourth quarter. Now they’re in full heave-and-a-prayer mode considering the situation — down 15 points, fourth-and-11. The Cardinals run a stunt to Williams’ left, and the rush on the right comes home, too. This may have been when Wright injured his knee.
This is what Williams is looking at as he reaches the top of his drop.
When looking back at the Cardinals’ defensive numbers heading into Sunday, it is worth noting that the quarterbacks they had faced included Josh Allen, Jared Goff, Jayden Daniels, Jordan Love, Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa in his return.
Still, if you look at the Cardinals’ defensive starters, it doesn’t look like a group the Bears should’ve had such trouble moving the ball against. Credit to Arizona — that looks like a well-coached, well-run team right now. It won a game of bully ball against the Bears, handily.
As the offense searches for answers this week — another chapter in the franchise’s ongoing search for answers on offense — a lot needs fixing, but simplifying things, focusing on the run game and creating layups for Williams will help get them in the end zone.
(Top photo: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
