The Lions plagiarize themselves while the Bears print money

The Bears finished 2023 with one of the strongest defenses in the league. They added a quarterback who was drafted first overall in a stacked passer class. Caleb Williams and newcomer D’Andre Swift both started coming online in Week 4, where they defeated an overwhelmed Matthew Stafford with a 24-18 home win.

Despite all of these points going in Chicago’s favor, they were only narrowly ahead in games against two of the worst teams in the league. In Week 5, that meant a 3.5-point lead before defeating the Carolina Panthers 36-10. In Week 6, the line switched back and forth between the Bears and a Jacksonville Jaguars team that had recorded its first win a week earlier.

And so Chicago went out and proved the oddsmakers wrong. Again.

Williams once again shined against a weak defense and the Bears improved to 4-2 despite injuries that left them without key players throughout the secondary. There will be plenty of praise for the young passer this week after he posted four touchdowns – which would have been nearly five if not for a fourth-quarter overturned throw to DJ Moore just short of the goal line. We’ll get there, but let’s start with the guys who make it all possible.

The offensive line, which allowed its rookie QB to be sacked 13 times in a 1-2 start, has surrendered just seven sacks in the last three weeks – not coincidentally, three wins. Swift averaged 1.8 yards per carry en route to 68 rushing yards to start his career in Chicago. In the three games since, he has rushed for 257 yards on 54 handoffs and 4.8 yards per rush.

Some of that success was the result of a tactical strategy in late wins against tired defenses, but Swift thrives in space. The dancing and itching that can be a headache behind the line of scrimmage is much more bearable when he’s more than five yards behind the field and in chaos.

Hell yeah.

Of course that was just the basis. Williams was standing up there dancing all over the place.

As can be seen from the throw above, Williams’ near 80 percent completion rate wasn’t the result of wide-open windows (though those certainly existed). He thrived with a playbook full of short passes. While he didn’t do much long-distance, he completed eight of eight passes on throws that ranged from nine to 19 yards downfield – with FOUR touchdowns.

Williams read correctly and regularly got the ball where it needed to be. He proved that he could not only play within offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s structure, but also fill it to the rim with big throws. He’s also proven he’s willing to exhaust every option available to him before escaping the pocket… where he’s also devastating.

This is remarkable, even if it may not be sustainable. Williams has seven touchdown passes in his last three wins, but they came against the NFL’s three worst defenses in terms of DVOA and expected points allowed per dropback. Weeks 4 through 6 were not a challenge for Chicago, but rather a launching pad.

But hooooo buddy, Williams ran away. He gets a bye and then the league’s 26th-ranked pass defense to get his hype train to unsafe speeds before November arrives.