Big Blue View
The New York Giants head to Soldier Field in Illinois on Sunday to face the Chicago Bears. Let’s learn about this version of the Bears from Bill Zimmerman of SB Nation’s Windy City Gridiron in this week’s ‘5 questions’ segment.
Bill: The Bears certainly have some issues when you watch them. Their special teams aren’t very good. Their defense has not played well, except for one stretch of the season when they were forcing a lot of turnovers, and their offense is probably their biggest strength, but it’s certainly been inconsistent. The key has been Ben Johnson and the culture he’s building. The culture at Halas Hall and in the locker room has been broken for several years, probably since 2020. And other than a couple of blips, probably since Lovie Smith was fired nearly 15 years ago. This has been a losing franchise that, honestly, didn’t know how to win. When things went wrong, they would tuck their tails, hang their heads, and accept the loss. This team fights until the final seconds. They believe in each other, they believe in the coaching staff, and they’re having results on the field. The Bears won a last-minute game against the Raiders, they won a wild game against the Bengals, the Commanders came down to a last-minute field goal as well. They are winning close games, and for the past few years, those are always games they have almost always lost.
Bill: The returns on Caleb have been far more positive this year. There are certainly some things to iron out. His accuracy has been questionable, and his decision-making certainly isn’t perfect. But the way he is operating in Ben Johnson’s offense is far better than it was last year. His sack numbers have been cut by more than half, his pressure to sack rate is very good, and his numbers are reflecting a quarterback that’s growing into Ben Johnson’s offense. Ben has gotten Caleb to play more in structure and play more on-time. It’s not perfect, but it has vastly improved. It feels like Ben has told Caleb, look, play it my way, play in structure, and do it 80 to 90% of the time, and if it’s not there, spin out of the pocket, buy some time, and do your thing and try to make a play.
I think it’s too early to tell if Williams is going to fulfill his number one pick potential, but things are certainly pointed in the right direction now.
