4 Bears overreactions from demolition of Panthers

10/06/2024 10:30 PM

Don’t look now, but the Chicago Bears have a winning record. With Sunday’s win over the Carolina Panthers, the Bears moved to 3-2 and now sit in third place in the highly contested NFC North.

With a dominant victory over the Panthers—beating them by nearly four touchdowns (36-10)—Chicago fans probably feel they have something to gloat about. After all, this marks the Bears’ second consecutive win and a perfect 3-0 record at home this season.

Though it’s only Week 5, the Bears appear improved. But that notion in and of itself may be an overreaction. It's a cycle Bears fans have come to know all too well: early promise followed by a late-season collapse from inconsistent play.

Two weeks of solid play is hardly a large enough sample size to make a judgment. Still, it's impossible to ignore what’s happening in Chicago right now, which, naturally, comes with its share of overreactions—starting with the performance of Bears’ starting quarterback, Caleb Williams.

Caleb Williams has arrived

Caleb Williams’ start to the season was far from memorable, even if the Bears did come away with a win in Week 1. It's not as if Williams had much to do with that victory. He didn't turn the ball over, but he failed to reach 100 passing yards or score a touchdown. His next two games were even worse; despite increases in yardage and completions, the Bears went 0-2 as he threw four interceptions and scored just twice.

However, in his last two games—including Sunday's matchup against the Panthers—Williams has shown significant improvement. He has averaged a 71.4% completion rate over that span, a jump from the 58% he posted in his first three outings. Additionally, he has thrown three touchdowns and no interceptions in those two contests.

On Sunday, Williams missed on just nine pass attempts, averaging 10.5 yards per pass attempt, and racked up 304 yards with two touchdowns (both to DJ Moore). Though he faced some pressure at times (one sack), the game seemed to slow down for the rookie quarterback. So, was this Williams’ arrival game? It certainly appears that way, but it’s still too early to say definitively—especially considering the opponent was the struggling Panthers.

However, it certainly helps that Williams has been better protected in his last two games. He was sacked a total of 13 times in the first three games but has been brought down just four times in the last two. That will definitely help as the Bears No. 1 pick continues to make adjustments to the NFL.

"He's just learning and growing and you can see that in these games that we've had,” coach Matt Eberflus said, per ESPN. “He knows that. So he's just got to level up, keep leveling up and every time we've challenged him he's done that ever since the summer."

The running game and D’Andre Swift are now finally working

Something else that has been working the last two weeks has been the Bears running game, which appeared non-existent in the weeks prior. The team as a whole had 128 yards on 39 carries. The leader of the pack, of course, has been offseason acquisition D’Andre Swift, who seems to be hitting his stride as of late. He had 21 carries for 73 yards and touchdown with 120 yards total from scrimmage.

This has been yet another area of improvement for that offense that can only help alleviate the pressure off Williams. Swift in particular has not had his carries upped but that’s resulted in a significant yardage increase, not to mention scoring his first rushing touchdowns of the season.

Remember the competition: It was the Panthers

You could sum up both of the previous overreactions and their legitimacy by considering the Bears’ opponent on Sunday. The Panthers are, once again, one of the worst teams in the NFL, now falling to 1-4. It didn't help that their defense was already without some of its best players, including Derrick Brown, Shaq Thompson, and Josey Jewell. Then, they lost Jadeveon Clowney in the second quarter to a shoulder injury, further weakening any semblance of a pass rush against the Bears’ offensive line.

With all those injuries piled up, the NFL’s No. 29 rushing defense, No. 18 passing defense, and lowest-ranked scoring defense were bound to suffer even more against the Bears.

There are sure to be overreactions after the way the Bears performed, especially with Williams, whom Chicago has been waiting on to save them from quarterback woes. However, this performance needs to be contextualized based on the opponent. The same applies to next week's opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who just picked up their first win on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

Bears are one of the best defenses in the NFL

This is far from an overreaction—it's the downright truth. The Bears’ defense is now allowing an average of just 17 points per game and has allowed 20 points or more in just one game, against the Colts on the road in Week 2. They have 11 sacks, six interceptions, and are giving up just under 300 yards per game.

As much as fans want the Bears’ offense to be the key to this team's success, for now, it's the defense that is keeping them in games by keeping opponents off the field and off the scoreboard.

*Stats provided by Fox Sports.

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