Bear Digest

Why Commanders Game Means More to Bears Offense Than QB Showdown

Analysis: The Bears offense likes to think of their loss to the Colts as a turning point but the real proof of this would be winning Sunday over a solid Washington defense.

Gene Chamberlain

Cole Kmet celebrates with teammates after one of his two touchdown catches in their London win.
Cole Kmet celebrates with teammates after one of his two touchdown catches in their London win. / Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images
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For the last few weeks, the Bears have trumpeted the importance of their players meeting with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and staff after the Week 3 loss to Indianapolis.

The players asked to be coached harder so they could get the details of the offense down to a T. They think it was critical in cutting back on all the presnap penalties and other mistakes they had earlier.

Part of their meeting led to either altered play calling or play calling keeping in mind more what was working and players thought it led to more balance in the offense. Of course, it helped that the running game took off then and provided the balance. Their practices of communicating and being more critical became a regular part of the process.

"We had multiple meetings where we would sit down and talk about things that were working for us, things that I like, things that I don't like, things I talked about before, like staying in the flow of–whatever the case may be," Williams said. "If we were running the ball 5 yards, 4.5 a pop, just keep handing the ball off. Obviously, mix in but stay in the flow of that and things like that.

"Those were the meetings that we had, the sit down talks that we had and I think those moments that we had helped us progress. And we've got to keep going."

Coaches have openly admitted to how much it meant to have leaders like tight end Marcedes Lewis or DJ Moore and other veterans speak out. The coaches took note.

"I think the people that we have in this building, whether it's the coaches and their ability to understand and understand us as players and then listen to us and adapt and also us as players stepping up, leading, we also have things that we need to get better at practice-wise, execution and things like that through walk-throughs and actually in practice," Williams said. "There's a lot to get better at and everybody so far has done a good job and we've got to keep getting better."

It was the play calling, the play scripting, as well. They changed up how they were calling early plays so players knew what to expect more early.

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"But there was a lot of things," Waldron said. "And every week—I had a chance to talk to some other guys yesterday as well—and it just goes back to that constant communication and every single week looking to see, where can we improve as coaches? Where can we improve as players to get a better operation going?"

It all sounds plausible how something of this sort could assist a forming offense. However, the thing about labeling something a turning point or at least being critical in developing success is there needs to be success.

That's where the importance of this game with Wsahington comes into play. It goes far beyond being a showdown between Caleb Williams and possibly Jayden Daniels.

The Bears have won three straight but all three opposing defense could be questioned even though Williams was able to find receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze with regularity by the end of the offense's struggles.

The Bears offense didn't look good enough earlier to win three straight over anyone higher than Division II, let alone the NFC. Suddenly they were piling up points and touchdowns. So it's easy to draw conclusions about the change achieved through their meetings.

Still, these were not good defenses.

Now, Washington represents a better level of opponent. It's not just their high-powered offense, either.

The Commanders are 16th on defense, 12th against the pass, 18th against the run. They're a middle-of-the-road group on that side of the ball and when paired with their No. 1 offense, they're dangerous.

If those three straight wins really were a turning point, the Bears offense needs to step up and prove it now.

If they lose and struggle offensively against a higher quality of defense, they'll have plenty of critics doubting if they're really capable of competing in an NFC North now looking suddenly more wide open after back-to-back losses by the previously unbeaten Vikings.

Their only convincing offensive performances will have come against friendly competition. The Colts weren't even a real defensive challenge as they're currently ranked 29th, but the Bears failed badly in that 21-16 loss.

It's a game to prove the true level of improvement, but also the effect of meeting and talking and communicating.

Otherwise, it's a team with an excellent defense, a developing rookie quarterback and an offense still struggling to pull things together.

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.