HOUSTON – Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had the opportunity to clean up the chaos on offense in the first 58 minutes and 23 seconds against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on “Sunday Night Football.”

It was the kind of opportunity that his predecessor, quarterback Justin Fields, ultimately failed to capitalize on.

Williams had the ball on the Bears’ 20-yard line with 1:37 minutes left and had to take a timeout.

A touchdown and an extra point would decide the game.

Instead, the Bears delivered the following in their 19-13 loss to the Texans:

• First-and-10 from the Bears’ 20-yard line: a 27-yard catch-and-run from Williams to rookie receiver Rome Odunze.
• First-and-10 from the Bears’ 47: a dropped pass by tight end Gerald Everett.
• Second and ten attempt: a sack by Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter – who quickly left right tackle Darnell Wright behind – for a loss of 8 yards.
• Third and 18: a 1-yard run by Williams during a play in which the Bears were penalized for illegal lineup.
• Fourth and 17: a missed deep throw from Williams to Odunze where the two were obviously not on the same wavelength.

6 different Texans scored at least one sack tonight 🤘 pic.twitter.com/lx9EZlrN9A

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) 16 September 2024

Sunday night was not Williams’ “welcome to the NFL” moment.

It was his “Welcome to the Chicago Bears” reality, where offensive plays are questioned, pass blocking is always questionable, mistakes are routinely made on the road in prime time, and the pressure to be the one to fix everything by becoming everything is still enormous.

Williams completed 23 of 37 passes for 174 yards and two interceptions. He was sacked seven times. In two games, he has 267 passing yards. Texans quarterback CJ Stroud threw for 260 yards and a touchdown on Sunday night. The Bears have scored just one offensive touchdown in two games: running back Khalil Herbert’s 2-yard run in the second quarter.

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In the locker room after the game, Williams sat in silence for a few minutes while his teammates showered, changed and went to the team buses.

“I think I’m just enjoying the moment and understanding that I’m trying to figure out what I obviously need to get better at,” Williams said. “I haven’t watched the film. I haven’t done all of those things yet. I’m just trying to figure out what areas I was off, what areas we were off to get the result that we had, which was not the win. That was kind of the process that was going through my head right after the game.”

Williams’ toughness is unquestionable after Sunday. The Texans beat Williams and he kept getting up and trying to make plays out of seemingly nothing. Hunter and Will Anderson each had a sack and a half on Williams.

Caleb Williams suffered a loss to the Texans on Sunday night, but kept getting back up. (Thomas Shea / USA Today)

Additionally, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair hit Williams hard on the Bears sideline, causing a scrum among the players. An earlier shot on the Texans sideline would have looked like a potential penalty for a late hit.

“Get up, play ball,” Williams said. “They didn’t throw the flag. Just get up, play ball and keep going.”

That’s endearing. But nobody questioned the toughness of Fields or Mitch Trubisky either. Jay Cutler’s toughness became part of his “Don’t Care” story.

“I’m a little hurt,” Williams said. “Took a few hits today.”

The problem is that we’re talking about Williams’ toughness when we should be talking about touchdowns.

You expected Williams to have some initial difficulties. You thought there would be some bad plays, even some bad interceptions. And you knew there would be mistakes.

What you didn’t expect, however, was that all of the problems that have seemingly marred the Bears’ season for many years, regardless of head coaches, coordinators and quarterbacks, would seep into this season so early and with such intensity.

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This season was supposed to be different. Instead, the positive vibes from training camp quickly turned into a growing list of concerns, especially on offense.

The defense can and should be a different story. In Week 1, they took on turnover-prone quarterback Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans and got a win. On Sunday, the defense was good enough to give Williams and the offense a chance in the final two minutes.

But Williams and the offense are not yet good enough to be successful in these game-deciding moments.

“We didn’t execute it the way we should have,” Williams said.

Not even close.

So when will the bears get there?

The Bears can’t run the ball and they can’t protect Williams consistently. Against the Texans, the penalties added up – even those after the breaks. All of this leads to a hopeless situation for a young quarterback.

Williams threw two interceptions while trying to make plays when his team needed him. Part of that is learning what he can and can’t do in the NFL. That will happen. The other part felt a lot like Bears.

Everything that was said after the loss to the Texans is what we’ve heard before after similar losses. The offense is not on the same page. Protection is a team issue that affects more than just the offensive line. The problems are in the details. And there’s still plenty of time left this season to fix their problems and start winning games this season.

That’s right. It’s only week 2. Nobody is reaching for the panic button yet.

But we know it’s there.

After all, these are the bears.

(Top photo: Eric Gay / Associated Press)