(670 The Score) For everything to work for the Bears, Caleb Williams must eliminate chaos.
Not create it.
Williams was drafted No. 1 overall in 2024 to provide different answers, not the same old questions.
He came here to Chicago to offer more solutions than problems, to instill more confidence than doubt, more consistency than uncertainty. And, above all else, Williams must be the primary reason the Bears win games.
Not lose them.
Yet there Williams was Sunday at M&T Stadium in Baltimore, in his 24th straight NFL start, the weakest link on a struggling offense that needs him to be its strength – and he was the biggest reason the Bears lost 30-16 to the Ravens.
Yes, the Bears defense gave up 177 rushing yards to the Ravens, the offense committed too many dumb penalties and other individual players made mistakes that collectively led to the team's first loss since Sept. 14.
But nobody let the Bears down in defeat more than Williams, who was outplayed by Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley, who was playing in place of injured two-time MVP Lamar Jackson.
If Williams would've been the best quarterback on the field, the Bears would've won their fifth straight game. It's that simple. Quarterbacks outplayed by backups seldom end the day celebrating, and Huntley clearly was better than Williams.
Williams' low point came with 9:08 left in the fourth quarter. Backed up in his own territory, with the Bears trailing 16-13, Williams picked a bad time for his worst throw of 2025.
This is the play everyone will remember most when evaluating Williams or comparing him to Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix and others.
On second-and-10 from the 4-yard line, Williams locked his eyes on Rome Odunze, like everybody in the DMV area expected, and released a pass that surprised nobody. That included Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins, who jumped the route, made the interception and returned it to the 9-yard line. Two plays later, Huntley hit tight end Charlie Kolar for a crucial touchdown that ultimately decimated the Bears as the Ravens stretched their lead to 23-13.
Williams’ questionable decision on this interception seemed obvious to everyone who saw running back Kyle Monangai open on a checkdown completion that likely would've gotten the first down.
Everyone but Williams, that is.
"It was a good read, Rome man-to-man,” Williams told reporters postgame. "I just didn't give a good ball to Rome.”
Countered coach Ben Johnson, when asked postgame about the pick, didn’t appear to agree.
"Just in my mind, there might have been another option we could've gotten to,” Johnson said.
For his part, Johnson hardly spared his quarterback or his offense from the objective analysis every player – and his fan base – deserves.
The bar for excellence is high for a reason. Not everyone can reach it. But Williams has provided glimpses of greatness as a pro that make moments like Sunday's all the more confounding.
It would be easier to accept Williams' occasional shortcomings if they were simply a case of a quarterback lacking the necessary skill set. But Williams possesses everything a franchise quarterback needs. Those natural talents helped Williams complete 25 of 36 passes for 285 yards, prolific numbers that were a little deceiving.
He simply has yet to figure out how to avoid those maddening stretches every game that indicate a lapse in concentration and execution. He can sound eloquent and savvy talking about leadership, but it's another matter to exhibit all that the concept of leadership entails, all day, every day – and especially on Sundays.
Until Williams figures that part out, the Bears' success will be relative and modest. Until he really gets it, the Bears' ambition will have limits. They’ll approach respectability and flirt with playoff contention but fall short of their overall potential.
Not until Williams understands how to eliminate the letdowns every game that seem as inevitable as they are inexplicable – they can last a play, a series or a quarter – can the Bears realistically get where everyone in Chicago wants them to go.
One regrettable throw against the Ravens won't change the fact that Williams still can be the guy who one day leads the Bears to a Super Bowl.
But that only can happen if Williams embraces all that's required to take that next step.
Great quarterbacks do the little things that often make a big difference, something Williams didn't do on a few occasions against the Ravens besides the interception.
From the Ravens’ 10-yard line on the game's opening drive, Williams scrambled left on second-and-3 to gain two yards but stopped just short of making that extra effort to get a first down. The Bears ended up converting for a first down before settling for a field goal. Still, is it too much to expect Williams to lunge forward past the chains to get a fresh set of downs? Not for a team still wondering how it can become more efficient in the red zone, where the Bears struggled mightily again.
Later, near the end of the first half, Williams scrambled for 22 yards but slid inbounds at the end of the play rather than running out of bounds to stop the clock. It cost the Bears a timeout that might've come in handy on a drive that ended with kicker Cairo Santos' 58-yard field-goal miss after the field-goal unit rushed onto the field in the waning seconds of the half.
(Is it fair to wonder if Jake Moody and his stronger leg would’ve hit that?)
Back to Williams: The third example of his discomfort came two plays after his long run when he was flagged for intentional grounding for firing the ball out of bounds while being pressured, which cost the Bears 10 yards and their final timeout to prevent a 10-second runoff.
"On the intentional grounding, I just wasn't on the same page with (Colston) Loveland,” Williams said. "That comes with reps and things like that.”
As for the decision to slide instead of run out of bounds?
"I could've gotten out of bounds to save that second timeout,” Williams acknowledged. "But that didn't happen.”
It's on Williams to make sure that does happen on a regular basis. It's on Johnson to hold Williams accountable if the mistakes continue.
Seven games into Johnson's first season, the Bears appear to have an outstanding coaching staff, a competent, above-.500 roster and an improved outlook. And after their third loss, the Bears have given our football city this week's agenda for talk shows and barrooms.
--- They still commit too many penalties, as they were flagged 11 times for 79 yards Sunday.
"The penalties to me are what stand out,” Johnson said.
“That stuff adds up and it hurts us. That's not the way you win in this league. I put it on the leaders in that locker room to get this ship going in the right direction.”
--- Alarmingly, the Bears failed to match the ravenous Ravens' level of intensity or desperation, which Johnson noticed.
“Truth be told, I expected more out of our squad,” Johnson said.
--- The Bears’ offense stalls in the red zone (one touchdown in three trips there Sunday), and their defense needs to find ways to get off the field if they don't create takeaways that aren't as sustainable as everybody made them sound last week. Getting defensive tackle Grady Jarrett back helped, but injuries to cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and nickelback Kyler Gordon – who's becoming increasingly brittle – made it hard to cover anybody.
All that said, most NFL teams will wake up Monday facing similar issues about penalties and the red zone and defense in a perfectly imperfect league governed by parity. So many games now come down to one score, one series and one play.
What masks so many teams' weaknesses and often separates contenders from pretenders in the NFL?
It's great quarterback play.
One day, Caleb Williams can still be the great quarterback the Bears need him to be to win those close games and take that next step. Ben Johnson can help him become that great quarterback.
But Sunday sure wasn't that day.
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.