Bear Digest

Not All Bears Offensive Problems Trace Back to Caleb Williams

Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron calls presnap penalties a plague to his attack but it's getting rather late in the season to worry about false starts and illegal motion calls.

Gene Chamberlain

Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins pressures Caleb Williams in the 29-9 Arizona win.
Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins pressures Caleb Williams in the 29-9 Arizona win. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Bears have only themselves to blame for some of the problems they’ve encountered on offense, particularly in first quarters.

With 10 points in the first quarter, they’re next to last in the NFL for scoring in that period of games and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron keeps searching for answers. The solution is to eliminate the negative plays–sacks or penalties–because they have left quarterback Caleb Williams facing too much distance to account for on third downs in the last two games.

“I think similar to the early part of the season where the negative plays or the second-and-long, third-and-long situations have really crept up for us in those games where we haven’t had as much success,” Waldron said. “Especially this past week where we’re in multiple second-and-10 pluses leading to third-and-longers, generally speaking those are scenarios you want to stay out of as an offense.

“When we’re going and playing at a higher level, we know we’re getting more runs called because we’re not having as many negative plays, we’re staying efficient with that balance, the marriage of the run and the pass and then the completion play mindsets come to life and you’re in second-and-shorters or you’re up to first-and-10, third-and-shorters and able to execute at a higher level.”

The Bears have allowed the second-worst sack percentage in the league at 3.5 per game. Only Cleveland (4.8) is worse. 

In terms of presnap penalties, they are tied with Miami for the league lead at illegal formation violations with six for 30 yards. They have committed 15 false starts, which is two from the league lead. They also committed two illegal shift penalties.

The penalties and sacks are intertwined, Waldron says. One can lead to the other. Both put pressure on Williams and the offense to make up for lost ground and it gives the defense the edge, leading to even more penalties and sacks.

The offensive line should be where the blame goes, then?

“I know we all see sack numbers, and we all just want to put it on the offensive line,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “But there’s an element of receivers have got to run the right routes. We have to be right where we’re supposed to be, especially if there’s a hot element to the play.

“Obviously the O-line has got to block it up correctly. The backs have got to be in the right spot. Tight ends have got to be alert to who’s coming and who’s not. The quarterback has to be on in terms of flipping the protections and all those type of things. So there’s a lot that goes into it than just the offensive line component.”

Then again, sometimes it is on Williams for waiting too long to throw or scrambling into a sack. He did that in the last game.

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“It’s the ultimate team stat right there because each one of these plays, there are times when it’s on the quarterback getting the ball out (slow),” Waldron said. “There are times where, if he does get flushed, go ahead and a throwaway is OK.

“And there are other times where a defensive scheme might hit home quicker than anticipated and you have to be able to play the next down (throw it away). I think, overall as an offense, the high number of sacks is something that we’ve really started to hone in on and we’ve talked about, obviously, every week, but, as they accumulate, that’s a big goal of ours to reduce that number, because that goes back to the second-down execution, the third-down execution, because of all the negative plays sacks are ones that impact a drive and expected points more than anything. We’re working through all the different causes there.”

Penalties make sacks easier to occur and this is a rather late point in the season for an offense to be repeatedly lining up incorrectly or committing false starts. Waldron admits as much.

“I would say with the presnap penalties those are issues that we need to keep working to fix because they’ve lingered a little bit longer, obviously, than what we’re looking for right there,” Waldron said. “So, again, those are things we’ll address, we’ll talk through, always giving the guys the why and then now it’s about going out and executing.”

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.