Bears keep heading south in NFC North as Vikings blast them 30-12
MINNEAPOLIS — Nothing about Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ rookie season has gone as expected, and the one thing the team can’t allow is for it to fully disintegrate as it looks ahead to a pivotal offseason.There are signs that the wheels are falling off, though, and at a time when nothing matters as much as Williams’ development, neither he nor his supporting cast is managing to stay sturdy.The Bears dropped their eighth consecutive game, this time predictably getting trucked 30-12 by the Vikings on Monday in a nationally televised game, tying the second-longest losing streak in franchise history.When the Bears fell behind 27-6 with 10 minutes left in the game, Williams had completed 14 of 23 passes for 157 yards with no touchdowns for an 81.3 passer rating. The Bears have a ton of problems, but they’re not going anywhere with him playing like that.He finished 18 for 31 for 191 yards and got his only touchdown pass after the Bears blocked a Vikings punt when they were down by 21. He had an 86.9 passer rating, tracking closely with his number for the season overall.The Bears put backup Tyson Bagent in the game for their final possession, conceding defeat.With his team sitting 4-10, Williams now has lost as many games in three months with the Bears as he did in three years of college. While Bears general manager Ryan Poles certainly failed him by surrounding him with Matt Eberflus, Shane Waldron and an untrustworthy offensive line, Williams also is responsible for falling so short of the ambitious goals he laid out before the season.The tangled mess of blame was evident Monday on a disastrous play in the first quarter. Without left tackle Braxton Jones, who was out because of a concussion and has had a rough season anyway, the Bears started rookie Kiran Amegadjie despite him having played just 58 snaps.When Williams dropped back on third-and-nine from the Vikings’ 29-yard line, outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard ran right past Amegadjie and hit Williams square in the back of the shoulders. The ball bounded away for a turnover, recovered by linebacker Blake Cashman, and the Vikings soon scored for an early 10-0 lead.If Williams truly is the franchise’s future, the Bears need to do better than leaving him exposed to a hit like that. But also, the fact that Williams never saw it coming and couldn’t find a way to get rid of the ball or at least hold on to it and take the sack.There was little inspiring about Williams’ performance, which felt like a repeat of recent games in which the Bears were so inept offensively in the first half that he had to scramble to try to get them back in reach in the second. That’s never going to be a winning formula.The Bears were shut out in the first half for the third game in a row, this time down 13-0 to the Vikings at halftime. At that point, they were 0 for 5 on third down, had running back D’Andre Swift come up short on two fourth-and-ones, had 107 yards of total offense and had just one drive — thanks to a Vikings penalty on a punt — longer than 25 yards.Williams completed 7 of 9 passes for just 60 yards in the first half and threw just one ball more than five yards past the line of scrimmage. That’s discouraging at a time when the Bears want to see him be more aggressive and create downfield threats.The Bears didn’t score until Cairo Santos’ 29-yard field goal with 7:02 left in the third quarter at the end of a malfunction-riddled sequence in which they worked backward from first-and-goal at the 1-yard line to fourth-and-11 at the 11. Williams was 0 for 3 passing once the Bears got inside the Vikings’ 30-yard line.It was their third-longest scoreless drought to open a game this season.Meanwhile, as the Bears take yet another swing at trying to get a quarterback off the ground, the Vikings keep finding ways to thrive with whoever walks in the door.They reset their organization in 2022, the same time the Bears did when they hired general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus. The Vikings picked Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and offensive-minded coach Kevin O’Connell.Guess who got it right. The Bears are 14-34 under Poles’ direction, while the Vikings are 32-16 — tied for the fifth-best record in the NFL over that span.Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell inherited a better situation in terms of salary-cap health and draft capital, but they’ve been forced to navigate plenty of glitches at quarterback.Whereas Poles inherited a quarterback in Justin Fields who had been drafted No. 11 the year before and landed the No. 1 overall pick to get Williams this year, the Vikings lost Kirk Cousins first to injury and then to free agency, then drafted J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 and he needed season-ending surgery in August.It’s a credit to O’Connell, whose reputation as a quarterback whisperer keeps growing with every big game by Sam Darnold, and Adofo-Mensah’s roster building that the Vikings are 12-2 and have pulled even with the Lions and Eagles for the best record in the NFC.With the latest loss, W
MINNEAPOLIS — Nothing about Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ rookie season has gone as expected, and the one thing the team can’t allow is for it to fully disintegrate as it looks ahead to a pivotal offseason.
There are signs that the wheels are falling off, though, and at a time when nothing matters as much as Williams’ development, neither he nor his supporting cast is managing to stay sturdy.
The Bears dropped their eighth consecutive game, this time predictably getting trucked 30-12 by the Vikings on Monday in a nationally televised game, tying the second-longest losing streak in franchise history.
When the Bears fell behind 27-6 with 10 minutes left in the game, Williams had completed 14 of 23 passes for 157 yards with no touchdowns for an 81.3 passer rating. The Bears have a ton of problems, but they’re not going anywhere with him playing like that.
He finished 18 for 31 for 191 yards and got his only touchdown pass after the Bears blocked a Vikings punt when they were down by 21. He had an 86.9 passer rating, tracking closely with his number for the season overall.
The Bears put backup Tyson Bagent in the game for their final possession, conceding defeat.
With his team sitting 4-10, Williams now has lost as many games in three months with the Bears as he did in three years of college. While Bears general manager Ryan Poles certainly failed him by surrounding him with Matt Eberflus, Shane Waldron and an untrustworthy offensive line, Williams also is responsible for falling so short of the ambitious goals he laid out before the season.
The tangled mess of blame was evident Monday on a disastrous play in the first quarter. Without left tackle Braxton Jones, who was out because of a concussion and has had a rough season anyway, the Bears started rookie Kiran Amegadjie despite him having played just 58 snaps.
When Williams dropped back on third-and-nine from the Vikings’ 29-yard line, outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard ran right past Amegadjie and hit Williams square in the back of the shoulders. The ball bounded away for a turnover, recovered by linebacker Blake Cashman, and the Vikings soon scored for an early 10-0 lead.
If Williams truly is the franchise’s future, the Bears need to do better than leaving him exposed to a hit like that. But also, the fact that Williams never saw it coming and couldn’t find a way to get rid of the ball or at least hold on to it and take the sack.
There was little inspiring about Williams’ performance, which felt like a repeat of recent games in which the Bears were so inept offensively in the first half that he had to scramble to try to get them back in reach in the second. That’s never going to be a winning formula.
The Bears were shut out in the first half for the third game in a row, this time down 13-0 to the Vikings at halftime. At that point, they were 0 for 5 on third down, had running back D’Andre Swift come up short on two fourth-and-ones, had 107 yards of total offense and had just one drive — thanks to a Vikings penalty on a punt — longer than 25 yards.
Williams completed 7 of 9 passes for just 60 yards in the first half and threw just one ball more than five yards past the line of scrimmage. That’s discouraging at a time when the Bears want to see him be more aggressive and create downfield threats.
The Bears didn’t score until Cairo Santos’ 29-yard field goal with 7:02 left in the third quarter at the end of a malfunction-riddled sequence in which they worked backward from first-and-goal at the 1-yard line to fourth-and-11 at the 11. Williams was 0 for 3 passing once the Bears got inside the Vikings’ 30-yard line.
It was their third-longest scoreless drought to open a game this season.
Meanwhile, as the Bears take yet another swing at trying to get a quarterback off the ground, the Vikings keep finding ways to thrive with whoever walks in the door.
They reset their organization in 2022, the same time the Bears did when they hired general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus. The Vikings picked Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and offensive-minded coach Kevin O’Connell.
Guess who got it right. The Bears are 14-34 under Poles’ direction, while the Vikings are 32-16 — tied for the fifth-best record in the NFL over that span.
Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell inherited a better situation in terms of salary-cap health and draft capital, but they’ve been forced to navigate plenty of glitches at quarterback.
Whereas Poles inherited a quarterback in Justin Fields who had been drafted No. 11 the year before and landed the No. 1 overall pick to get Williams this year, the Vikings lost Kirk Cousins first to injury and then to free agency, then drafted J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 and he needed season-ending surgery in August.
It’s a credit to O’Connell, whose reputation as a quarterback whisperer keeps growing with every big game by Sam Darnold, and Adofo-Mensah’s roster building that the Vikings are 12-2 and have pulled even with the Lions and Eagles for the best record in the NFC.
With the latest loss, Williams and the Bears are now six or more games behind the other teams in the division. They’re the only North team heading south.
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