It’s official: the Chicago Bears are once again marquee television.
For what feels like the first time since the Stone Age, the 4-2 Bears are a football team worthy of a national showcase. Their status was set Tuesday afternoon when the NFL announced it was flexing their Week 8 road matchup with the Washington Commanders to a 3:25 CST start. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, CBS’ top team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be on the call next Sunday.
The late afternoon window, which over the years has become a quasi-primetime game with nationwide appeal for both CBS and FOX, has eluded the Bears over much of the past decade. Porous offenses and head-scratching coaching decisions will certainly force eyes across the country to lose interest.
But now, with a shiny new toy in QB Caleb Williams, and a tantalizing matchup with fellow top 2024 pick Jayden Daniels, Chicago is primed and ready to recapture America’s attention.
The Bears’ first six games of the season amounted to a slow burn for the Chicago faithful. With hopeful eyes, Bears fans watched in agony as the team - mainly its new-look offense - sputtered out of the gates. Williams struggled behind a leaky, mistake-prone offensive line. Offseason additions WR Keenan Allen and RB D’Andre Swift were either unable to play due to injury, or ineffective on the field. Old habits were hard to miss, whether it was guard Nate Davis’ lack of preseason reps, or head coach Matt Eberflus and his staff seemingly leaving their players unprepared for battle.
Then, everything changed.
Veteran leaders on offense, led by 40-year-old wonder and TE Marcedes Lewis, reportedly met with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron for a no-holds-barred meeting after a Week 3 debacle against the Indianapolis Colts. The offensive contingent laid it all on the line with Waldron, giving their unapologetic feedback on their sloppy, disjointed play. Lewis even intimated that Waldron was “walking on eggshells” as the Bears’ new OC.
One of the chief concerns of the meeting was the team lacking a script for the first 12-15 plays of each game during the first few weeks.
An opening drive script is critical for any offense looking to establish a rhythm in the first quarter. It’s essentially vital for a rookie quarterback seeing an NFL defense for the very first time.
And their lack of preparation showed. The Bears failed to reach 20 points in two of their first three games, and in the lone game during that stretch in which they did - a 24-17 opening week victory over the Tennessee Titans - 22 of the team’s 24 points were scored on defense and special teams. It was a classic Chicago Bears win, all things considered.
“Probably six out of the seven years I’ve been playing, I’ve had openers with 15 (scripted plays),” WR DJ Moore said during his Monday appearance with Mully and Haugh on 670 The Score. “So when we didn’t do it, everybody was a little thrown off – but we were going to make it work.”
Since that meeting, the Bears offense has not only taken off, it’s suffocating bad defenses. They’re averaging 31.7 points over their three-game winning streak, the club’s first since 2020. Williams has thrown 7 of his 9 passing touchdowns during that stretch, and is currently on pace to throw for more than 3,700 yards this season. Each win has seen a different offensive weapon step up, with Swift, Allen, Moore and TE Cole Kmet, who has provided a spark after not seeing much action in the first few games.
The much-maligned offensive line has shown steady improvement over the winning streak. Veteran Matt Pryor has been favorable since replacing Davis at right guard. LG Teven Jenkins and RT Darnell Wright have played stand-up ball as of late. OG Bill Murray’s performance in the Bears’ Week 5 win over the Carolina Panthers had fans turning their heads.
The Bears could be forced to make some tough roster decisions following the bye week with the impending returns of tackle Larry Borom and IOL Ryan Bates, who had been battling with Coleman Shelton for the Center position prior to landing on injured reserve.
The offense has perfectly complemented a defense that is restoring its Monsters of the Midway moniker. The Bears rank in the top 10 of all major statistical defensive categories. They’ve allowed 16.8 points per game this season, the fifth-lowest mark in the league, and forced the second-most takeaways (13) through six weeks behind the Green Bay Packers (17). They’ve also scored 47 points off turnovers, as the defense has continued to put the offense in premium spots to take advantage of their opponents’ mistakes. The last time the Bears allowed more than 21 points in a game was Nov. 19, 2023, when they blew a double-digit lead on the road to the Detroit Lions.
Both phases coalesced perfectly in this past Sunday’s 35-16 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. With a destination game and an exclusive window of football, Chicago overcame a slow first quarter to manhandle an inferior Jags team going through its own internal strife. An undermanned Bears defense forced two takeaways, with a third overturned on a bang-bang punch out by linebacker Tremaine Edwards. Williams had his best game as a pro, tossing a career-high four touchdowns (a fifth TD to Moore was ruled short of the goal-line). He bounced back from a brutal second-quarter interception - a mistimed lob to Moore that would have led to six with better placement - making several elite-level throws, including a back-shoulder throw over the middle to Allen for a 9-yard score.
"You just gotta keep going," Williams told NFL Network's Stacey Dales post-game. "There's going to be times throughout the game where there's plays that you don't like, plays that you messed up on like today. But to keep going, have the positive mindset, stay a constant communicator throughout the whole team -- offensive coordinator, everybody. And have, like I said, that positive mindset goes a long way for our guys."
Waldron’s gameplan has made noticeable strides. Opening drives are still challenging, but his play scheme and designs are getting more clever by the game, as evident in their first score in Jacksonville - a double fake screen leading to a throw up the seam to Kmet for a 31-yard touchdown.
Overall, it was Waldron’s best game thus far. After the win, Eberflus praised Waldron’s growth and adaptability as an offensive coordinator.
"We had a good flow going”, Eberflus told reporters on Monday. “The offensive staff is really doing a good job of helping a lot of those ideas, and the execution piece with the positions…. but yeah, I thought he called a really good game."
While it hasn’t been a picture-perfect start to the Caleb Williams era in Chicago, it’s hard to imagine it going any better than this. Had you told Bears fans in April they’d be 4-2 entering the bye, a good chunk of them would’ve booked their February flight to New Orleans by now.
Sure there’s frustration with how they’ve opened ballgames, having trailed in every game this season. As T.J. Edwards told 670 The Score’s Bernstein, Harris & Rahimi on Tuesday, it’s an issue they’re focused on correcting.
“It’s definitely a point of emphasis for us, is kind of getting things rolling early”, Edwards said. “I think that starts confidence for our team, when you can do those things and score early.”
The Lisan al-Gaib of Chicago has also had his fair share of ups and downs. However, unlike Caleb Williams’ predecessors, his confidence and resolve has instilled a sense of calm across the fan base. Long gone are the days of waiting on the other shoe to drop and for a Bears QB to break the hearts of fans everywhere. No more will a defensive stalwart serve as the team’s representative in primetime promotional material. Finally, there is stability at the franchise’s most important position, and that tranquility has trickled throughout the organization.
So enjoy the bye week, Bears fans. Breathe easy and bask in the glory of winning football, because after this week, the real fun begins. Expectations are back in Chicago. Finally, the eyes of the football world are back on the Windy City.
May irrelevancy never rear its ugly head at Halas Hall again.
Pierce Roberson is an Emmy-award winning producer, writer and co-founder of the Barber’s Chair. He is currently based out of Philadelphia, PA. You can follow him and his work on X @CamronSanto.
