Bear Digest

Bears Report Card: Nothing Significant Here Beyond Victory Over Poor Panthers Team

Grading the Bears: Caleb Williams and the Bears did what they needed to do but it was good to see considering how they've struggled to move the ball so far this season.

Gene Chamberlain

Kyler Gordon leaves the field Sunday after an eighth straight homefield win for Chicago.
Kyler Gordon leaves the field Sunday after an eighth straight homefield win for Chicago. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
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There is the tendency to look at what the Bears did Sunday at Soldier Field to the Carolina Panthers and conclude they've arrived.

It's easy to see those 304 yards and the two touchdown passes to DJ Moore, including that beautifully spotted throw to the end zone, and say this is it: Breakthrough!

There is no such thing as a breakthrough.

The proper conclusion is voiced by Albert Breer in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, leading off with the effort by the Bears and Williams.

"Based on a month of evidence, it’s a good bet Williams is on a good track," Breer writes.

Track being the accurate and proper word. Arrived is not the word.

Cade McNown, another Bears quarterback drafted in Round 1 out of a Los Angeles school, had a passer rating of 113.3 in a game as a rookie, with a 300-yard effort and his name is only remembered with a roll of the eyes in Chicago.

Williams and the Bears are not finished products by any means. Beating a team stupid enough to draft a quarterback No. 1 overall and then willingly start old Andy Dalton after only 22 games in the league can't be too challenging.

And the Panthers not only were without two starting linebackers but during the game lost tight end Tommy Tremble, edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, tackle Taylor Moton, wide receiver Xavier Legette and center Austin Corbett to injuries.

They barely had anyone left to throw into a rumble in the end zone after the last Bears touchdown, and when Jaycee Horn got ejected following the fracas they may have been looking around to see if they had a healthy available replacement.

Carolina might be the worst team in football again, and probably are. The Bears actually fell behind 7-0 against them.

ONLY SMILES FOR CALEB WILLIAMS AND DJ MOORE AFTER VICTORY

WINNERS AND LOSERS FOR BEARS IN VICTORY OVER PANTHERS

POLICE INVESTIGATE STABBING OUTSIDE SOLDIER FIELD AFTER GAME

ALBERT BREER'S TAKE ON CALEB WILLIAMS AND THE BEARS IN WIN

No need for saying "breakthrough."

The Bears and Williams need to take another step after going across the pond this week.

The growing continues.

Here are the grades for the effective and required way the Bears took the trash out on Sunday.

Passing Game: A+

There were several positive aspects. First, Williams made Moore a priority to get going in the passing attack with big gains. Once the main is established, the others can play off this and they did. The 105-yard receiving day to go with Williams' 304-yard effort were positives and just as important was the 10.5 yards per pass attempt. They needed to get downfield after four games playing inside a phone booth. The fact he had six receivers catch at least two passes was also a plus. Then one sack allowed is a tremendous step forward for the offensive line, although Carolina had no real pass rusher beyond Clowney and he left with an injury.

Running Game: B

Considering the Panthers came in as the 29th ranked run defense, a 3.3 average yards per carry is no reason to beat their chests. D'Andre Swift's 18-yard run and 1-yard TD said more than his 3.5-yard average. Roschon Johnson's 2.5-yard average was the result of having no more ground to run on than no running room at the line of scrimmage because he was carrying at the goal line. Tyson Bagent falling on the ball three times at game's end for 4 yards in losses also pulled down the average. The goal line and short yardage blocking was extremely effective and this is encouraging for a team so bad at this over the last decade. If Teven Jenkins is lost with an ankle injury for long, this might have been a somewhat costly performance by the offense.

Pass Defense: A+

The Panthers were very capable of inflicting damage this way and had proved it the previous two games Dalton played. He was too busy running for his life and trying to avoid getting run over by a Zamboni known as Andrew Billings. He didn't succeed at this. Dalton wore Gervon Dexter like he was a football jersey, with four quarterback hits. The Bears' pass rush was constantly a problem and it was probably very familiar for Dalton because he used to get trampled on a regular basis in Chicago when he played at Soldier Field in 2021. Bears pass coverage held the Panthers to 65.7 for a passer rating and it would have been even worse had Bryce Young not been allowed to play and bring it up at game's end with 4 of 7 for 58 yards. Jaquan Brisker ascended from safety to human missile in this one. A few missed interception opportunities were missed by the group but other than that limiting Dalton to 136 yards when the Panthers were behind by a lot from the second quarter on is actually pretty remarkable. Even a bad team normally gets a lot of makeup yardage throwing under the zone coverage when trailing and Carolina really didn't.

Run Defense: B-

They had an early wakeup call after Chuba Hubbard somehow snuck straight up the middle 38 yards for a TD. They quickly made an attempt to correct this with 15 yards allowed over the next 11 runs. It's still a work in progress on run defense and the Bears can't forget a year ago they were No. 1 stopping the run. They need to get back to that performance.

Special Teams: C+

Nothing really stood out beyond Cairo Santos actually missing an extra point. He had this problem two years ago and it seemed to be a flukish problem the entire season. They have to hope this was an isolated kick. The punter from down under needed to come on only four times and had one inside the 20, and a 39.5-yard net with a 44.5-yard average was well below what punter Johnny Hekker did for the Panthers. The Bears actually did get to return three kickoffs in this one and three different players got to do it. No one made an impact, although the average wasn't poor at 26.7 yards. A 33.7-yard average allowed on three kickoffs shows they haven't mastered the coverage technique for the new, ridiculous kickoff rule.

Coaching: A

Shane Waldron didn't even need to be taken to task after this one. Matt Eberflus' only mistake was going for two after they scored their last touchdown. He pointed to the "chart" as the reason, as coaches always like to do. It's always convenient to blame a piece of cardboard instead of a person. If he really was doing this according to the chart and not because of the dirty, unpenalized hit on Caleb Williams out of bounds or the fight that broke out in the end zone, then maybe he should have referred to the bigger chart and that's the scoreboard. It said they were up 26 points in the fourth quarter.  

Overall: A-

They've beaten the Rams, Panthers and Titans and this week they'll get to use their trash compactor skills at 8:30 a.m. Chicago time, overseas against a 1-4 Jaguars team.

Jacksonville did score 37 against a Colts defense that held the Bears to 16.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.