CHICAGO (670 The Score) — After the Bears lost their first two games of the season, second-year quarterback Caleb Williams spoke of a confidence he felt despite the bleak start. Now we're seeing why.
The Bears have won four straight games since their ugly 52-21 loss to the Lions on Sept. 14. On Sunday, they earned a 26-14 victory over the Saints at Soldier Field, a win that underscored a new feeling for Williams and his team.
“It’s living in the known,” Williams said after the win. “The feeling of myself this year in a sense of when we have games, when we’re going through the game plan, when we’re at the end of the week, it’s more a feeling of we know we’re going to win. And that’s not always going to be the case – but the feeling of it is different than 'maybe' or 'we got to go out and play a perfect game.' It’s living in the known, the feeling of we’re going to come out here and win a game.
“Even when we were at 0-2, we were still living in the known that we were going to fight back and we were going to be 2-2, then we go 3-2, then we're going to be 4-2. It’s living in the known. We have to do things throughout the week – hard work, staying late, do all the right things. But living in the known is where we’re living. We got to stay there."
Individually, Williams had his worst game of the season Sunday. He was 15-of-26 for 172 yards and an interception with a 61.7 quarterback rating. But Williams has said before that he’d rather earn a victory rather than any personal accolade. With that as context, he left Soldier Field late Sunday afternoon with a smile.
The Bears rushed for 222 yards as a team, with running back D’Andre Swift leading the way with 19 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown. It marked his second straight game with more than 100 rushing yards. Rookie running back Kyle Monangai added a career-high 81 rushing yards and the first touchdown of his NFL career.
But the Bears’ inconsistent side was also on display. They committed 10 penalties for 92 yards and went 3-of-12 on third-down conversions and scored just two touchdowns in six trips to the red zone.
Afterward, Bears head coach Ben Johnson once again celebrated with his players in the victorious locker room at Soldier Field. Back at Halas Hall on Monday, he'll have a different tone.
“That’s the benefit of when you win, you get to coach a little bit harder,” Johnson said. “We’re always truth tellers on Monday, and we’ll tell them when it’s good, when it’s bad. We’ll tell them what we got to clean up. There’s a number of things there that we can be better at.
“I was hopeful that game six, we would play cleaner football today.”
Johnson had just one game ball to present in the Bears’ locker room Sunday afternoon. That was for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, whose unit led the way to victory by forcing four turnovers. Allen was fired as Saints head coach last November. He found a comfortable landing spot with the Bears, working alongside Johnson to reshape the culture in Chicago.
On Sunday, the Bears held the Saints to 253 total yards of offense. They intercepted Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler three times, and pass rusher Montez Sweat forced a fumble with a sack in the first quarter. Chicago’s defense had four sacks in all as it stifled New Orleans’ offense.
The Bears have had four takeaways in a game three times in their first six contests of the season, paving the way for success as the offense is finding its way.
“It’s special right now,” Bears veteran safety Kevin Byard said. “I’m not going to make it seem like this has happened before – I’ve never been a part of that. We got to keep it rolling.”
A year ago Sunday, the Bears boasted the same 4-2 record they currently possess and spoke with confidence about what was coming. Those words proved to ring hollow. On Oct. 27 in Washington, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels threw a last-second 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to hand the Bears a stunning 18-15 loss from which they never recovered.
The Bears suffered 10 straight losses, a dramatic slide that led to then-head coach Matt Eberflus' firing as the players checked out. Each time the Bears took the field in the latter half of last season, one could only wonder how they would lose.
It’s a different feeling in the locker room now. The Bears are finding ways to win, even without their best brand of football, and they expect to do so while also striving to find their best form.
“The living in the known,” Williams said. “If we do the right things throughout the week, if we practice the right way, if we study, watch enough film, do all the right things, we got the coaches, we got the players, we got the belief in each other.
“Then we will come out with a win. I think that’s the difference.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.