The last sack the Bears gave up Sunday had all the hallmarks of the problems that have plagued the franchise this season.
They had six players — all five linemen plus tight end Cole Kmet — blocking only four 49ers edge rushers. They had just one receiver open: Keenan Allen, who was over the middle but could only watch as his quarterback didn’t throw the ball. The reason: left tackle Braxton Jones, who has long been susceptible to the bull rush, was being pushed into rookie Caleb Williams.
When Williams was pulled to the ground by 49ers edge rusher Yetur Gross-Matos, he made history. It was the 56th sack Williams took this season, the single-season Bears record.
And he still has four games left to play.
Remember Justin Fields failing to throw the ball away in 2022? He took 55 sacks in 15 games. Or the lasting image of Jay Cutler always being on the ground? He was never sacked more than 52 times, and that happened during 15 games in 2010.
Williams is on the wrong side of history. Time will tell how much harm it does to his career.
He could not play another snap this season and he’s still be tied for 17th in NFL history in sacks taken in one season. He’s on pace to finish with 72, which would tie him for the second-most ever.
The Texans’ David Carr holds the sacks record, with 76 in 2002. The Eagles’ Randall Cunningham is second, with 72 in 1986. Carr — the first pick in 2002 and a cautionary tale for how a franchise can hamper a quarterback — also ranks third with 68 in 2005. He went 23-53 in five seasons as the Texans starter from 2002-06. He started four games for the Panthers in 2007 and none the rest of his career.
Williams’ sack total is partly a function of the Bears’ eagerness to throw — he’s on pace to set the franchise record with 567 passes. The percentages are still brutal, though — he’s been sacked on 11.4% of his dropbacks, the third-most of any Bears quarterback with 300 passes in a season. Fields’ 14.8% in 2022 is the Bears’ record.
This is not what the Bears envisioned when they surrounded Williams with a roster that some thought was the strongest one ever bestowed to a No. 1 overall pick. Or when they paired him with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who was fired two-and-a-half months into the season. And with head coach Matt Eberflus, who was canned three games later.
Thomas Brown, who replaced Waldron and then Eberflus, was left to answer for Sunday’s performance in which the Bears gave up seven sacks —five on third down.
He sounded a lot like Eberflus. Third down success starts with playing well on first and second down, he said.
“To me the common theme is all of us,” Brown said Monday. “That’s probably not the response you were hunting up. But I think again, me being critical from a play calling standpoint of how I sequence plays throughout the flow of the game. Trying to figure out how to stay a step ahead of the defense.
“Also, it all comes together in how we protect the quarterback, his rhythm and timing, pocket movement, when the ball is distributed – also us being able to win in the rhythm and timing so the ball can come out on time.”
The ball’s not coming out fast enough. Williams isn’t being decisive enough, either. He hasn’t thrown an interception in more than two months, and it’s fair to wonder if such caution has made him hesitant. One of his two sacks that didn’t come on third down Sunday came when he looked to throw left, tried to stop his throwing motion and fumbled the ball away.
“The timing was a little off,” Williams said.
