Caleb Williams, Bears offense, find their stride in 31-14 Week 3 victory

An incompletion, a four-yard loss, and a two-yard pass led the Chicago Bears to a three-and-out start in their game against the Dallas Cowboys.

But on the Cowboys’ opening drive, Tyrique Stevenson forced the fumble to recover the ball for the Bears after two plays by the Cowboys. 

Back on the field, Caleb Williams was able to connect with Colston Loveland on a 31-yard pass after a run by D’Andre Swift. Three plays later, Williams hit Rome Odunze with a 35-yard touchdown pass. 

And after the Bears’ defense held Dak Prescott and the Cowboys to a field goal, the Bears attempted a flea flicker on the first play of their third drive.

Williams gave the ball to Swift, who tossed it back to Williams, and Williams completed the flea flicker with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Luther Burden III. 

The Bears scored 17 more points — two more passing touchdowns by Williams — to end the game with their first victory of the season, and their first win with Ben Johnson at the helm. The Bears beat the Cowboys 31-14.

The Bears’ win comes after losses to the Minnesota Vikings (27-24) and the Detroit Lions (52-21). 

Williams threw for 298 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He ended the game with zero sacks — a first for him in the NFL — and completed 19 of his 28 pass attempts.   

Williams threw for 88 more yards than he did against the Vikings and 91 more yards than against the Lions. He also led the Bears to their best third-down efficiency of the season by converting eight of their 14 third downs. 

His four passing touchdowns in the game were also a season-high. All four were thrown to different receivers — Burden, Odunze, DJ Moore ,and Cole Kmet. His three passing touchdowns entering the game were all thrown to the same player: Odunze. 

The longest receptions by Burden, Odunze, Loveland, and Swift all surpassed 30 yards — the longest was the 65-yard reception by Burden.

The Bears’ defense, along with the forced fumble, had three interceptions. Two of those were off of Prescott. The defense also sacked Prescott twice for a loss of 17 yards and held the Cowboys to 3-for-11 on third-down conversions. 

The Bears’ next game is against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 28. It is their final game before their bye week.