LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Given a week off after their offense got rolling against Jacksonville in London, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears might have been better served without a Week 7 bye.
They’ll take the rest and head into a showdown Sunday with the Washington Commanders (5-2) feeling prepared to compete in an NFC North rapidly looking like NFL’s toughest division.
“I will say I think guys were ready for a little bit of a break considering how early we reported for camp and the camp we went through,” Bears tight end Cole Kmet said.
The Bears had a July 19 reporting date because they were in the Hall of Fame game, and made it through their first six games free of major injury until a series of minor injuries to defensive backs in and just before their most recent game.
Coach Matt Eberflus on Monday said safety Jaquan Brisker is still in the NFL concussion protocol after a hit he took in the Oct. 6 win over Carolina. He saw improvement in cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (calf), cornerback Kyler Gordon (hamstring) and cornerback Terell Smith (hip) but can’t yet say any of them will be back to face Commanders.
Even with their recent injuries, the Bears defense is ranked sixth overall, fourth in points allowed and third in takeaways.
However, they’ve been beating struggling teams. All four wins came over teams with a combined 7-20 record while their two losses came to the Colts (4-3) and Texans (5-2).
“I mean, I feel like we’ve played well, done some really good things in all facets of the game,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “But I think for us, we know that we can be a lot better.
“It’s a group that’s not complacent with anything that we do and that starts with (defensive coordinator Eric) Washington and those things.”
Eberflus said his team’s biggest positive change is simply Williams’ improvement since their 1-2 start.
In the past four games, Williams has nine touchdown passes, three interceptions for 1,050 yards, with a passer rating of 106.4. He has connected with DJ Moore for three TDs, Cole Kmet for three, Keenan Allen for two and Rome Odunze for one.
“You can really see the improvement through the course of the weeks,” Eberflus said. “And I always say it, that every unit faces its difficulties every single week. It could be a pass rusher. It could be scheme. It could be certain players that threaten your unit, particular unit, offense, defense or special teams. And I think he’s learning that as we go.
“I think he’s learned to really do a good job in the noise, to work through those things and also just basic operation of good quarterbacking. And you can see that with the way he’s executed the last few weeks.”
Williams and the offense will need to be even sharper with the schedule toughening for the Bears.
“In the run game there are still things we need to clean up,” Kmet said. “Pass game-wise there’s still a lot. In our protection game, still things we can be better at and I think you look at the film and there’s actually some big mistakes that we need to correct that we know of. Once we go against these better teams in the NFL and we start vying to make a playoff push here as the season continues, we have to get those things dialed in.”
All six divisional games come in the final eight games and all of the NFC North teams are ahead of them with five wins.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty crazy, right?” Edwards said. “I mean, obviously, we know those teams pretty well. But it’s good football being played right now.
“Yesterday (Sunday) was probably the first time we got to sit down, or at least me, just sit down and watch some football for a second and it’s at a high level right now, man. So we're excited for this stretch we have coming up, for sure.”
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