The Bears Win on a Walk-Off FG

                The Chicago Bears live to see another day with 3 wins in a row since the loss at Baltimore to the Ravens.  This was another “thrilling” [read: stomach churning] game ending in last second points.  Vikings 17, Bears 19 thanks to a game-winning field goal from Cairo Santos.  As what seems to be a common thread in all my articles… I have mixed feelings, but I’m not “down” per say on the Bears.

                Walking out of U.S. Bank Stadium with the win, the Chicago Bears had 230 yards and 19 first downs.  They had a 38.9% conversion rate on third down putting them right outside the top 10 teams in the NFL for third down conversions (hey not bad!).

                Caleb Williams continues to baffle even the most seasoned sports pundits with many talking heads now spouting how great he is becoming.  A lot of media-members claim that he’s going to almost shock the league.  I don’t know if I quite agree with that line of thinking.  Right now I would agree most with Dan Orlovsky who said “Caleb Williams is evolving into a problem solver”.

                Many times this season we’ve seen Williams roll out of the pocket.  Many of those times we’ve seen him lost, confused, and frustrated.  These plays usually end in negative yardage.  While this was a step up from him being the most sacked QB in league last year, its never great to see your supposedly athletic and talented QB not throw the ball away.  I was of the opinion – and I still kind of am – that it was too much.  I wasn’t asking him to be a statue in the pocket, but there was/is legitimate concern on if he was/is making his reads. Can he just get the short yardage chunk play or throw it out?  Not every play needs to be hero ball.

                This game against the Vikings was one of the first times I saw Caleb Williams act in a decisive and semi-intelligent way when scrambling out of the pocket.  He looked like he had a sense of direction and managed some decent yardage with 26 rushing.  He also threw the ball away.  THANK YOU!  Would I rather have a hero play that works?  Sure, but I don’t want those if my QB doesn’t know when to not do those plays.  You have to just accept the play and throw it out or get a quick clean chunk play pass in.

                Ultimately I think the Bears won this game due to two big reasons.  We had two key interceptions by Kevin Byard III and Nahshon Wright.  The Bears continue to lead the league in takeaways.  We also saw JJ McCarthy play… like a rookie, which he is.  This is year 2 for him but he didn’t play once last year.  JJ McCarthy did not look good out there which is expected of a rookie QB.  His passer rating was 47.7 – JJ McCarthy did not play well and the Bears benefited.  There still seems to be a mental block for the Bears in the red zone.  We could not get it done when we needed to, and although I am glad Caleb is improving on his improvisation – I desperately need him to work on his fundamentals.  Work on the red zone offense, please.  We won because we had 5 field goals, two incredible defensive performances, and the guy at the other end of the ball is a rookie.

                As my good friend Dan once told me “never apologize for a win”.  Dan, I’m not going to apologize for a win.  I am going to ask, is this sustainable?

                I’d like to take a minute to say thank you for reading this.  Those who know me personally know there is a lot going on in my personal life (to put it mildly).  It was difficult these past weeks to find the focus to write, and it really means a lot to me that you took time out of your schedule to read my ramblings.  Especially after such a long break.  Thank you, I appreciate you.  Bear Down.