A game that should have been a blowout victory for the Chicago Bears turned into a nail-biter, thanks in large part to a befuddling meltdown by quarterback Caleb Williams. NFL analyst Donte Whitner picked the Bucs to serve the Bears ‘humble pie’, and in a way they did, but at least it came with a side of victory as the Bears enter a badly needed bye week with a 7-2 record and, for now, the division lead.
Despite jumping out to a 14-0 lead and looking like The Greatest Show on Turf, a comedy of errors unfolded for the remaining three quarters. Williams threw four (yes, four) interceptions. Three of the Bears’ first four second-half drives went three-and-out. Kalif Raymond muffed a third-quarter punt and nearly turned it over. A third-quarter injury to Kyler Gordon forced him to briefly exit the game. Murphy’s Law reigned supreme.
There’ll be plenty of time over the next few days to dissect what went wrong in this one, and the film review sessions should be particularly brutal for Williams. Adding insult to injury, he won’t have a chance to redeem himself for another two weeks. But for now, let’s hand out some game balls.
1. Devin Bush
In what was by far his best game as a Bear, Devin Bush played like a man possessed on Sunday night. Almost every time the Bears needed a big play on defense, Bush was there to deliver a teeth-rattling hit. Whether it was defending the run or the pass, Bush was everyone all at once and kept the Bucs’ offense from getting much traction.
For his electric performance, Bush earned this first game ball, his first of the season.
2. Jaylon Johnson
Caleb Williams had just thrown his fourth interception of the night (to be fair, it was an unlucky tipped pass), setting Tampa Bay up with yet another short field. All hope seemed to be lost, and that’s when Jaylon Johnson reeled in arguably the biggest interception of his career. Johnson read Baker Mayfield’s eyes on a pass, caught it at full speed, and took it all the way back for a touchdown, the second pick-six of his career.
I said in my Week 9 stat predictions that the Bears would pick Mayfield off three times. They fell one interception short of that mark, but Johnson did his job, and for that he gets this game ball, which is also his first of the season.
3. Cam Lewis
In the interest of full transparency, I struggled to identify a third Bear worthy of a game ball in this one. In the end, I went with the other defender to snag a timely interception, and that’s Cam Lewis. He got the ball rolling near the end of the first half, easily cutting in front of a pass attempt in the middle of the field and securing the catch.
Unfortunately, a play that should have kept the Bucs at three points to end the half was for nought as Williams immediately gave the ball back to Tampa Bay with his third interception of the night, allowing Tampa Bay to tack on three more points. Nevertheless, it was a big-time play by Lewis and earned him this game ball.
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