The Chicago Bears improved to 5-2 with a 30-24 win over the New England Patriots on Thursday night at Soldier Field. Chicago jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and scored on five of its first six possessions, but the Patriots kept battling back, scoring a late touchdown right before halftime to cut the Bears' lead to six, and then kept the game close into the fourth quarter.
Caleb Williams was the difference, though, completing 22 of 33 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. His connection with his elite trio of receivers was evident from the jump, with Luther Burden III leading all pass catchers with 130 receiving yards and one touchdown, all in the first half. Colston Loveland also finished with 69 yards on seven catches, while Rome Odunze added 69 yards on four catches.
On Friday morning, ESPN's Dan Orlovsky delivered an emphatic review of Williams' performance, saying the Bears quarterback looked "flawless."
"You can not find better quarterback tape," Orlovsky said on "Get Up." "Last night was the, 'I want to be in the conversation with the Mahomes', and the Allen's, and the Burrow's, and the Jackson's. I think I'm that kind of player.' When I tell you it's young Aaron Rodgers.
"The decision-making, in structure and out of structure, the movement in the pocket, the playmaking and playing on time when it's mandatory, when it's needed, the anticipation of throw with ball placement of throw ... That's what we saw last night against a very good defense. This was him declaring to the NFL, 'Hey, I'm no longer the guy you can talk about as being a talent. I'm a guy, and I want to be in the same conversation with the other guys.'"
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Since returning from his hamstring injury, Williams has looked like an MVP candidate. He completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and one touchdown with zero interceptions in the Bears' win over the Falcons in Week 5, and then put together another efficient performance last night against the Patriots.
In Week 1 against the Panthers, before he went down with the injury, he went 21 of 29 for 269 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, along with 65 rushing yards and two rushing scores.
Williams already has 1,020 passing yards and five touchdowns with one interception, completing 71% of his passes, and that's all in just four games, with him having missed three games due to the hamstring injury. If he hadn't missed time, Williams would likely be the frontrunner for league MVP right now.
He's got Chicago's offense humming and the Bears have now won four of their last five games as one of the hottest teams in the NFL heading into Week 8.
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Chicago won the NFC North last season, clinched a playoff win over Green Bay, and only narrowly lost to the Rams in the divisional round. At 5-2, the Bears are already in a good position to get back to the postseason this year.
The fact that both of their losses were against their division rival Vikings and Packers isn't ideal, but Williams also missed the Green Bay game, and went down with the injury late in the Minnesota matchup. The Bears will get another shot at both teams later this season.