(670 The Score) Upon further review, let Bears history show that Matt Eberflus provided Caleb Williams quite a career jump after all.
Eberflus – Williams' first NFL head coach with the Bears who's now the defensive coordinator of the Cowboys – watched helplessly as the quarterback he helped select at No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft looked the part against his defense.
It was the rare Sunday at Soldier Field when the presence of Eberflus brought out the best in all the Bears, whose 31-14 throttling of the Cowboys started with Williams in his most productive day as a pro.
"I thought he was really good,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said, careful not to get carried away. "The thing you don't see on the stat sheet is he's getting more comfortable calling those plays in the huddle.”
It showed. Indeed, there were no pre-snap penalties for the Bears, but it was what happened after the snap that deserved the most attention.
Williams completed 19 of 28 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns for a 142.6 passer rating in a game in which he wasn't sacked for the first time as a professional.
Put another way, in Williams’ 20th NFL start – a pro football mile marker – the Bears won because of him and not merely with him.
Williams mixed in an array of off-platform throws for which he’s known with solid in-time, on-time passes that the offense needs to function best. He also displayed the elite arm talent that makes him special and the attention to detail that Johnson demands.
As for Johnson, Eberflus' highly regarded successor, he celebrated his first win as an NFL head coach with muted enthusiasm.
"It'll be fun for tonight,” Johnson downplayed postgame.
But he'll likely remember this one and all that led up to the moment much longer than that.
The milestone came after a week that included Johnson publicly questioning his team's practice habits and privately challenging them to raise the overall standard. The comments caused a national and local hubbub, which reflected how long it had been since Halas Hall had been exposed to how an intense Bears head coach with a plan could articulate it.
A players-only meeting followed Wednesday. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett spoke passionately to the team Saturday night, characterized by a source as emotional.
So perhaps it was a fitting metaphor that the winning under Johnson officially began on the day that saw Eberflus shaking his head often as the Bears looked like the team worthy of so much offseason hype. The indelible memory came in the locker room, where Williams, a captain learning how to lead more every day, awarded his coach the game ball.
“To be able to have that moment for him and us is really important,” Williams said. "The trust and belief and hard work, just all of it ... to be able to keep building this momentum and have this growth that we want to go on and this run we want to go on.”
Three games in, Johnson's offense arrived. The most frustrated Bears fan would add "finally.” The most understanding Bears fan would say that sounds about right given the mess that Johnson inherited.
You can point to specific plays as examples, but creative offensive game plans can be like fine art: You know it when you see it. And we saw it Sunday against the Cowboys.
We saw it in the early razzle-dazzle call when running back D’Andre Swift pitched back to Williams – in a pitch that floated "like a free throw,” Williams said – and he unloaded a flat-footed, 65-yard dart to Luther Burden III for the Bears' second touchdown. We saw it later with Burden, who played a bigger role, on a reverse on third down that he converted in the red zone for a seven-yard gain.
We saw it in the rhythm and the tempo and the timing of the entire offensive operation. We saw it on Williams’ third-down laser to the underrated Olamide Zaccheaus for a first down and a direct snap to Kyle Monangai, who lateraled to Williams on a rare play that didn't work.
But perhaps we saw it most obviously on the Bears’ 19-play, 76-yard statement drive in the third quarter that included several reminders – the offensive line making running lanes during 11 (!) straight runs, the play-caller scheming receivers open and the offense taking calculated risks. It culminated perfectly on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line when Johnson decided to go for it.
"We had a plan,” Johnson said.
On the Fox broadcast, analyst Tom Brady called it "the new NFL.”
In Chicago, they can refer to it as the Ben Johnson effect.
Williams bought himself time with his elusiveness, kept his eyes down the field and eventually found DJ Moore alone in the back of the end zone.
Just like that, it was Bears 31, Cowboys 14.
“Do not adjust your sets, Bears fans,”' Fox play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt kidded in the booth. “Your team has 31 points.”
Don't look now, Bears fans, but your team is one winnable game from heading into the bye week at an acceptable 2-2.
They also can thank the defense for that, a surprise given that Dennis Allen's unit came in giving up more points per game than any defense and missing three starters.
In front of their former head coach and coordinator, the Bears appeared intent on proving they didn't miss him either.
It all started with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, the most beleaguered Bears defensive player, ripping the ball out of Cowboys running back Javonte Williams for a turnover on the Cowboys’ second offensive play.
Perhaps no player benefited more from CeeDee Lamb leaving the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury than Stevenson, who entered the game with quarterbacks enjoying a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeting him.
But he responded to the challenge as well as any Bear this week, applying sticky coverage on George Pickens and delivering big hits on Cowboys runners.
If Stevenson enjoyed the most satisfying day among Bears defensive players, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had the loudest.
Edmunds – ironically signed by the Bears in 2023 to fit Eberflus' scheme – intercepted two passes and made 15 tackles in the type of performance that everyone has been waiting for. Montez Sweat also ended his sack drought. Kevin Byard snagged a garbage-time interception. And Allen had to feel good about minimizing damage from Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who played at an MVP level in the first two games but returned to Texas having completed 31 of 40 for 251 yards and two picks with an 80.3 passer rating
"This is how a locker room is supposed to feel,” Byard said postgame. “We've got to act like we've been here before. We've got to expect wins.”
He's right, but you can understand if the Bears got a little carried away after beating the Cowboys. It had been 350 days – last Oct. 6 – since they had celebrated a victory at Soldier Field, a remarkable stretch of futility for a franchise all too familiar with it.
And so Chicago will savor this one, at least through Tuesday. That's when the Wiener Circle figures to fulfill the promise the famous hot dog stand tweeted out recently: "If Caleb throws 4 TDs on Sunday, we will give away free hot dogs on Tuesday.”
"Congrats, everybody, you get free hot dogs,” Williams said with a smile.
Indeed, this was one to relish.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on X @DavidHaugh.