Windy City Gridiron
Note: Play reviews for this week will not be done, I’m traveling for the holidays and don’t have access to the tools I need to record and overlay information on those recordings. So this weeks recap will be abridged. Play review will be back next week!
Happy victory Thursday, Bears fans! Your Chicago Bears are on their second 4 game winning streak of the season, taking care of business at home with a 31-28 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers, pushing the Steelers road record against the Bears to just 1-13 all time.
And while it wasn’t pretty early (the first half saw 2 turnover worthy throws and 1 actual turnover that directly resulted in 7 Steelers points), Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears did the most with their opportunities with the ball on offense. After a stretch of football that saw the Bears turnover the ball in back-to-back possessions, a stretch that I feel like would doom spiral past Bears teams, the offense responded by scoring on 4 of their next 5 possessions, 3 of which were touchdowns as the Bears offense went a perfect 3 for 3 in the redzone this week.
Caleb’s accuracy in the redzone was a big plus this week, with 2 touchdowns coming on tight windows or contested catches, and the 3rd coming off a free play he created with his own cadence (an Aaron Rodgers special!) The touchdown throws were some of my favorite things to see, as it’s showing improvement in an area where the Bears have been a bit lackluster in: redzone touchdown efficiency. They currently sit at 16th in the league scoring a touchdown on just 57.89% of redzone trips. But over the last 3 weeks that number is 77.78%, tied for 3rd in the league.
One of the more interesting things that the tape showed me was just how the Bears changed their offensive gameplan completely this week. In the matter of a week the offense went from a “explosive hunting, extend the play when needed” to “play within the pocket and exploit a good pass rush who maintains good discipline when scrambling with structured offense and quick throws.“
Caleb Williams threw outside of the pocket just 5 times total against the Steelers, because Ben Johnson knew it wouldn’t yield results against a defense that plays scrambling quarterbacks very well, and had been playing very well overall recently. So the offense adapted and in turn that won us the game, as the Bears and Caleb Williams threw quick hitting outs, ins, and slants.
And despite the more toned down approach to offense this week, the Bears still remain the 4th most explosive offense in the league, trailing only the Colts, Bills, and Patriots.
In fact, the stark contrast this offense has to 2024 is pretty astounding when you take a look at it.
2024 Rankings (Season):
Explosive Plays: 31st
Yards: 32nd
Points: 28th
2025 Offensive Rankings (Through week 12):
Explosive Plays: 4th
Yards: 6th
Points: 8th
It’s legitimately been...
