In their first home preseason game of the season, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-3. Chicago played most of its starters while Cincinnati held its key players out Saturday afternoon.
Williams and Co. got off to a slow start to the afternoon, going three and out on each of their first three drives as they struggled to get anything going either on the ground or through the air. In the second quarter, though, they picked up a bit of a rhythm, with Williams showcasing his incredible improvisation ability.
The No. 1 overall pick threw a long pass up the sideline to fellow rookie Rome Odunze after spinning out to his left and throwing back across his body. He nearly had a touchdown to Odunze in the back of the end zone on a scramble to his right, but Odunze's foot was out of bounds. Williams then made up for it with another scramble to his left, scampering away from pressure and around the corner for a touchdown.
The Bengals' backups played quite well on defense early on, but the offense mostly struggled to get anything going against Chicago's first-team defense, with Kyler Gordon, in particular playing a huge role in shutting them down. Chicago's rookies on the second-team defense did the same. Cincinnati did get some splash plays from Jermaine Burton, Trayveon Williams and Kris Jenkins, but things were otherwise uneventful on that side of the ball.
In the second half, Tyson Bagent and Dante Pettis hooked up for a pair of touchdown tosses, while the Bengals' second- and third-team offensive units continued to struggle. Third-year Bears defensive end Daniel Hardy had himself a monster game, wrecking everything the Bengals wanted to do offensively, as he finished with four tackles (two for loss), a sack, two quarterback hits and a forced fumble.
Here are a few big takeaways from the game.
1. Caleb Williams flashes playmaking potential
The most important thing, from Chicago's perspective at least, is that the Bears' starting offense finally started to get untracked toward the end of the first half. They tried to get Williams going with some half-field reads early on, but it just didn't work out. Once they let him put his athleticism and second-reaction ability to use, that's when the fireworks started.
First, there was a long completion to Odunze up the sideline for a 45-yard gain.
A few plays later, Williams was at it again. For a second time, he scrambled away from pressure to his left, utilizing a spin move to break contain from the pocket. This time, he directed traffic ahead of himself and scampered his way into the end zone behind Teven Jenkins.
Williams was only 6 of 13 for 75 yards, but he also had a long completion erased by a pass interference penalty and, of course, had the two huge plays on his final drive.
2. Bears defense slows the Bengals
Chicago's starters played early on against Logan Woodside and the Bengals' backups, and they quickly got to work shutting down Cincy's offense. The Bengals totaled just 226 yards on their 60 plays, an average of 3.8 per play. Woodside was also picked off twice and sacked twice, with the right side of the offensive line failing to contain blitzes from the Bears out of the slot.
In the second half, Hardy went to work and continued his monster preseason. He now has 3.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, five quarterback hits and a forced fumble in three preseason contests.
3. Bengals struggle on both sides, but rookies make splash plays
There wasn't much to like about the Bengals' performance on Saturday afternoon. They lost 27-3, after all. They averaged 3.8 yards per play and allowed the Bears to average 6.0 per play. They turned it over three times and didn't force a turnover. They took 11 penalties for 123 yards and the Bears took just four for 38 yards.
But the Bengals did at least get a sack from second-round pick Kris Jenkins in the red zone, plus a pair of big plays in the return game from third-rounder Jermaine Burton, who also added a 19-yard catch.
Those guys are down the depth chart right now, but they flashed the kind of skill that led to them being Day 2 selections.
