In his first game back after injuring his hamstring on September 20, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams put together one of his most efficient games, completing 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown. The game plan featured a quicker passing game and fewer rollouts, likely to ease pressure on his hamstring.
His average air yards per attempt (3.6) was his career-low, and his average time to throw (3.02) was the fifth-lowest since working with Ben Johnson.
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He scrambled just once for 2 yards, and his usual elusiveness never shifted into top gear as he took four sacks.
Just speculation on my part, but it seemed the Bears may have asked him to scale back the running a bit.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty!
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Sack 12: 2nd Quarter: 2-9-CHI 21 (:41) (Shotgun) C.Williams sacked at CHI 12 for -9 yards (G.Dexter)
Caleb takes the shotgun snap, settles, and has some quick pressure up the middle to deal with. Center Garrett Bradbury didn’t handle the defensive tackle twist well, and he’s not in position to slow Brandon Dorlus (#54). Williams shakes that sack off, but former Bear Gervon Dexter Sr. is there to clean it up.
Left guard Joe Thuney had decent position on Dexter, but when Caleb moved up, Thuney lost leverage, and Dexter slipped the block.
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Dorlus was the catalyst to this sack, so let’s give this one to Bradbury.
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Sack 13: 3rd Quarter: 1-10-ATL 31 (1:40) (Shotgun) C.Williams sacked at ATL 40 for -9 yards (B.Dorlus)
Dorlus missed the first one, but he got home rushing off the Bears’ right edge here. Williams was flushed backward, so when right tackle Darnell Wright thought he was pushing Dorlus past the pocket, he actually took him right to the sack.
But I can’t give this one to Wright. He was doing what he thought was correct by pushing Dorlus wide. Williams feels some pressure in his face from another former Bear, LaCale London (#94), who was working on right guard Luke Newman. But I can’t give this one to Newman either.
Williams has Kalif Raymond (right slot) on the quick curl because D’Andre Swift took the linebacker with him towards the sideline. It would have been a really quick pass, but Raymond was there. Williams then looks to Cole Kmet down the left sideline, and a back shoulder throw probably gets it done here, but I don’t know how often these two have practiced that, which may have caused the hesitation.
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Regardless, Raymond would have been an easy 5 yards on first down, so this one is on Caleb.
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Sack 14: 4th Quarter: 1-10-ATL 39 (14:32) C.Williams sacked at 50 for -11 yards (L.London)
This play action looks like it could have had a bootleg out to the left, but instead, Caleb set up in the pocket to throw.
With the entire offensive line stepping right to sell the zone run in that direction, London recognizes the pass and scrapes to get in the backfield. Center Logan Jones tried to peel back and pick up any late-leaking defenders, but London got through the line too quickly.
Jared Ivey (#51) had a good angle of pursuit on Caleb, who was cocking to throw before fading back, but London came in from behind. Since he was out of the pocket, Williams could have chucked it out of bounds to avoid the loss in yards, so I got to put this one on the quarterback too. I do think that if Caleb wasn’t in his first game back from the hamstring, he would just outrun Ivey’s angle toward the sideline, but given the game situation, he was probably content to take the sack.
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Sack 15: 4th Quarter: 3-5-CHI 29 (4:20) (Shotgun) C.Williams sacked at CHI 23 for -6 yards (Z.Smith)
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This one is on Williams too. The pocket got a bit muddy, but he didn’t need to bail as quickly as he did. And just like the last sack, he could have thrown this one out of bounds. But Za’Darius Smith (#55) closed the angle and tripped him up.
Here’s the individual Sackwatch tally after six games:
Caleb Williams – 3.5
Sacks happen – 3
Garrett Bradbury – 3
Theo Benedet – 1.5
Jonah Jackson – 1
Colston Loveland – 1
Tyson Bagent – 1
Darnell Wright – 1
Here are the total Bears’ sacks allowed through 6 games in the Sackwatch era:
2010 – 31 Martz
2011 – 21 Martz
2012 – 25 Tice
2013 -11 Trestman
2014 – 17 Trestman
2015 – 13 Gase
2016 – 13 Loggains
2017 – 17 Loggains
2018 – 16 Nagy
2019 – 19 Nagy
2020 – 15 Nagy
2021 – 26 Nagy
2022 – 27 Getsy
2023 – 27 Getsy
2024 – 20 Waldron
2025 – 11 Johnson
2026 – 15 Johnson
