Caleb Williams and veteran Geno Smith are two quarterbacks in much different stages of their football journeys. The difficult decisions they and their organizations will face head on this offseason reflect that too.
But anyone that chose to sit through Thursday night’s game knows that neither team can be happy with what they saw from their signal caller. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Chicago Bears by a final score of 6-3 on Thursday night in a hard to watch, miserable game that also featured some rain, between two flawed teams. Each quarterback had an awful night, and it left everyone in attendance and watching at home shaking their heads and wondering what the future holds for them both. Only one of those teams will be forced to make the difficult decision if their quarterback will return, however.
“We’re in the mode of control what we can control,” Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said. “We know what’s coming next week. We’re going to spend this weekend getting our minds and bodies and spirits right to go play a game. We’re praying that it’s for the division championship.”
There had not been any points put on the board in the second half when the Bears finally put together a drive in the final minutes, trailing by a field goal. Williams made a couple of magical plays to keep the drive going, the first time he had produced much at all. But the series stalled, and with 20 seconds left, the Bears chose not to go for the tie and passed on a 57-yard field-goal attempt to go for it on fourth-and-10. Williams threw an interception on a desperate pass, the appropriate ending to a embarrassing night for both offenses.
“We still are seeing it as a possibility,” Williams said. “In a way, we’re trying to say, ‘Let’s control the controllables and let the other things fall into place as they will.’”
For Smith, who is in this 12th year in the league out of the University of West Virginia, there will be more burning questions over whether he is the right player for the Seahawks (9-7) going forward, especially as he is about to turn 35 next season, or if there is a better option available either in free agency of the draft. Thursday night’s outing did not do him any favors or silence his doubters.
The Williams conversation has may more layers to it. He was the No. 1 pick in Aprils’ NFL Draft; he is in no danger of being replaced. But the Bears, a disappointing 4-12, have to figure out how to bring in a new coaching staff that will push the rights buttons and get more out of him than we saw in his rookie campaign, and then get a grasp on how much the team failed Williams this season, or how much Williams failed the team.
Embed from Getty ImagesWilliams was forthcoming in his postgame press conference saying that the accumulation of hits are taking a toll on his body. But he also promised to get better from the experience.
“Frustrating, annoyed but learning I would say,” he said. “I definitely think this is going to be good for me. I’m excited about this last game and excited about the future.”
The offseason will be full of teams asking themselves serious questions about their current situation at the most important position in sports, quarterback, and what they can do to improvement it. Both the Bears and Seahawks have probably already started discussing it. If they have not, now is the time to start after what everyone was subjected to on Thursday.
“Honestly, we shouldn’t be in this position,” Smith said. “That’s the main thing, is understanding that we’ve got to control our destiny when we can. But yeah, I’m going to be a big Kyler Murray fan on Saturday. If they get it done, they get it done. But we’re going to go into this last week of the season with the same mindset no matter what.”
The Bears have come out unprepared and put on dismal performances in the first halves of games this season. Not saying that they make drastic improvements in the second half, but the starts have been brutal.
The Bears were shut out in the first quarter Thursday night, which is nothing new. They have failed to register points in the first quarter in 12 of their 16 games this season. They have a grand total of 20 points in the first quarter this season. Chicago had 25 yards of total offensive and one first down in the first quarter.
The only thing keeping the Bears afloat Thursday night and avoiding a fourth straight blowout was that the Seahawks just as bad. Both quarterbacks failed to reach 100 yards passing in the first 30 minutes of play. The Seahawks scored first on a field goal by place kicker Jason Meyers, the Bears’ one decent drive of the first half tied it with a field goal, and then the Seahawks took a 6-3 lead into halftime with one more field goal.
At the end of a miserable, disheartening season that started with great expectations, Bear’s faithful sat through the rain and cold to watch two flawed teams throw incompletions and trade field goals in the first half. And the second half might have been even worse than the first.
The score remained 6-3 deep into the fourth quarter. Chicago had what appeared to be a critical fumble recovery at their 38-yard line, but on the next drive, the Bears’ offense picked up 1 yard and punted. The Bears punted on each of their first four drives in the second half.
Williams did not have any time in the pocket to throw because of a poor offensive line and kept taking sacks, moving up to 67 on the season. That’s the fourth most for any quarterback in a season in NFL history. The Bears’ makeshift offensive line is not good, but one project the team’s new head coach will have is to get Williams out of the habit of holding the ball too long and trying to do too much. It made it nearly impossible for the Bears to sustain drives.
The Bears had an opportunity to at least knot the game at six in the final minutes. Williams started to get some momentum and yards running by using his legs. On fourth-and-inches, just before the two-minute warning, the Bears shot themselves in the foot and had a false start penalty, the kind of sloppy mistake that bad teams looking forward to vacation continuously make. But Williams made his best play of the night, a desperate heave that DJ Moore corralled in for a first down. That is the type of highlight-worthy play that Williams sometimes produces, and gives the Bears organization and fans hope that he can develop into a star.
Williams had another big-time throw to fellow rookie Rome Odunze for another first down to keep the Bears alive. Chicago let a lot of time run off the clock after that, which brought back nightmares and flashbacks to the clock management debacle on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions, and then called a timeout after Williams had thrown incomplete and the clock was stopped. Williams threw a couple more incomplete passes after that, the Bears went for it on fourth-and-10 and Williams threw one up under duress, and it was picked off to seal the Seahawks’ win.
This was the last Thursday night game of the season, and a reminder that we often do not get the best out of either team when they have had just three days’ rest. Smith was slightly better than Williams, but that is not saying too much.
For most fans, Thursday night was the last look at the Seahawks and Bears. They might each look a lot different in 2025.
The Seahawks travel to Los Angeles next week to take on Matthew Stafford and the Rams.
The Bears are on the road taking on their arch rival Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers next week.
