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I don’t think you need me to tell you that the Bears were horrific on Sunday. Any game your defense lets the opposing offense put up a 50-burger is not one that you typically win. And in this case, it’s not even one that the Bears were ever truly in.

However, I have been seeing a lot of people pointing the finger at Caleb and I don’t think that is very fair. I am not going to tell you he played great. He didn’t. He played OK and OK is all we really needed to see from him after the disastrous Monday Night Football game against the Vikings.

Caleb looked much better in this game. You could actually see him going through his reads and making good decisions with the football (Outside of that one awful throw down the sideline). He did still have a couple bad misses. Which absolutely have to be cleaned up. If you miss open guys in the NFL, you aren’t going to win football games. It’s as simple as that. Overall though, he was better than he was a week ago and that’s the important part when it comes to the development of Caleb Williams. We just need him to keep progressing.

Now, to be fair to those wanting more from Caleb, he is a #1 overall pick. One of the most hyped #1 overall picks at that. However, I think Bears fans need to stop looking at him as a #1 overall sort of talent. In all reality, he is a project. That’s not to say I don’t think he can be good. I believe that he can be great. We just need to be patient and let Ben Johnson unlock his potential. No matter how frustrating it will be to watch early on in the process.

So if the problem wasn’t Caleb, then what was the problem?

Well, we can start with the obvious that I stated at the beginning of this blog. The defense let up 52 points. 52! That’s the most points the Bears have let up in a decade. The gameplan we saw from Dennis Allen was truly a strange one. We saw a lot of zone coverage that you don’t typically see with his defenses. It almost makes me wonder if this staff just didn’t trust the secondary to be able to cover the Lions receivers. Although, it’s hard for a staff to have that sort of trust when you have a defensive line that is getting no movement up front. Where’s the pass rush? It just has to be better if this team wants to see any sort of success this season. I think Montez Sweat is playing well but, if we aren’t going to be getting much from the rest of the line, we are going to need more from him.

Despite all of these problems, I actually think that we are going look back at this game as an outlier for this defense. I trust Dennis Allen to figure it out and get the most out of these guys. Even with the challenge of not having Jaylon Johnson, this defense will be better. It just has to be.

I think it would be wrong for me not to mention the penalties that the offensive line is drawing. It’s a real problem. Jonah Jackson has looked legitimately terrified of the guys he has gone up against the way he is trying to get a jump. The same goes for Darnell Wright. I am giving him a pass though because trying to block Aiden Hutchinson is actually scary. He probably had nightmares about it and rightfully so! In all seriousness though, these penalties are putting the Bears in 3rd and longs that are drive killers. However, I am confident that Ben Johnson will get that cleaned up. If this team is going to be anything, it will be disciplined under Ben Johnson.

In the end, this was a bury the football type of game. We move on to Sunday’s game at home against Dallas. I need a drink. Bear Down!