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As Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams watched that Hail Mary, he felt frustration — for the offense’s missed opportunities

colleen kane, chicago tribune
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LANDOVER, Md. — As Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels danced around for 12.79 seconds on the final play of Sunday’s game at Northwest Stadium, Caleb Williams stood on the Chicago Bears sideline still happy, still believing his defense would seal the comeback he had orchestrated.

Then Daniels’ 52-yard pass bounced off a crowd of players and into the arms of Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown in the end zone, and Williams settled on one prevailing emotion.

Frustration, but not just in the result — an 18-15 loss that dropped the Bears to 4-3. Frustration in knowing the offense missed numerous opportunities earlier in the game that could have prevented the Bears from having to defend one desperate, last-moment play.

“Because I could have played better, we could have played better on offense throughout the whole game to put ourselves in better position,” Williams said. “And we will.”

Williams thought he did a good job of tuning out the hoopla leading up to the game, which was billed as a showdown between Williams and Daniels, the Nos. 1 and 2 picks in the 2024 NFL draft. It was also a homecoming for Williams, who grew up in Maryland and played high school football in Washington.

Williams said last week he gave away his ticket allotment for the game, and football players from Gonzaga College High School, his alma mater, held the American flag Sunday during the national anthem.

But Williams and the Bears offense, which have struggled all season with slow starts, certainly didn’t look cool and collected before the fourth quarter. They went scoreless in the first half, and Williams completed just 4 of 13 passes for 36 yards and had seven carries for 36 yards in the first three quarters.

“That’s just us shooting ourselves in the foot, and that comes from the details and focus in the game, throughout the week,” Williams said. “It comes from myself. I was included in that for sure. Definitely missed a few passes that I don’t miss typically.”

Coach Matt Eberflus said Williams’ rhythm and timing, which had flourished in the previous three games, was off. Eberflus lamented the offense not finding more ways to get the ball to the tight ends or running backs.

And he thought the Bears, who shuffled the offensive line multiple times because of knee injuries to left tackle Braxton Jones and left guard Teven Jenkins, didn’t do a good job of handling the pressure brought by Commanders linebackers.

There also were glaring missed opportunities. Williams gained 1 yard on third-and-2 in the second quarter, and his pass to DJ Moore on fourth-and-1 on the next drive went for no gain. Williams then took a 15-yard loss on a third-down sack late in the first half that pushed the Bears out of field-goal range.

“I’ve got to get the ball out of my hands,” Williams said of the sack. “I’ve got to throw it out of bounds in that situation.

“That’s the toughest part about the job is you want to go out there and make plays and do special things, but you also have to understand that’s the play. You get those three points and we get some momentum, get some points on the board, it would definitely help us in the long run, definitely help me in the long run.”

But the most notable error was a third-and-goal call from the 1-yard line with 6 minutes, 21 seconds to play.

The Bears trailed 12-7 at the time after D’Andre Swift’s 56-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter finally put them on the board.

With two plays to get 1 yard, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron asked Williams to hand off to offensive lineman Doug Kramer Jr., whom the Bears have been using as a fullback on short-yardage plays. Williams said he was confident in the play. So did Kramer.

“We’ve been repping it for a couple of weeks,” Kramer said. “I felt comfortable in the situation. I think Caleb did. And obviously Shane was comfortable enough to call it. And unfortunately I just didn’t make the play.”

The ball bounced off Kramer’s chest and into a pile of players, and the Commanders recovered the fumble. The Bears missed an opportunity to take the lead.

“It’s a 1-yard play, and we felt a big guy like that taking a dive could do that,” Eberflus said when asked whether it was a questionable play call.

The silver lining is that Williams was 25 seconds from adding a game-winning drive to his resume.

On the Bears’ last two drives, including the one that ended in the fumble, Williams completed 6 of 8 passes for 95 yards. On the final drive, he hit Rome Odunze for a 16-yard gain and Keenan Allen for a 22-yarder.

Allen then drew a pass interference penalty on Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste in the end zone on fourth-and-3.

“Just kind of gave him a move,” Allen said. “He grabbed me and didn’t let me get through. I did my best flop job.”

Two plays later, Roschon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run. Williams completed a 2-point conversion pass to Cole Kmet, and the Bears took a 15-12 lead. Williams headed to the bench with 131 yards on 10-for-24 passing and 41 rushing yards.

It looked like an improbably nice ending to a rough game, until Daniels’ final twist, which left Bears offensive players shocked considering how well the defense had played for most of the game.

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“It’s gut-wrenching,” said rookie offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie, who filled in for Jones. “It’s just a super tough pill to swallow. Tough to fight back in the game, take it at the end, 30 seconds left, and then to have that happen just is tough.”

Said Allen: “It sucks. You don’t really believe your eyes at the time. Like, ‘Damn, did that really just happen?’”

Williams had one more descriptor for it.

Part of his legend as he rose — from star prep player in Washington to Heisman Trophy winner at USC to No. 1 NFL draft pick by the Bears — is that he won a conference championship game for Gonzaga against DeMatha on a Hail Mary.

Williams said it happened almost the same way as the Commanders’ finish — a quick out to get a little closer to the end zone and then a 53-yard stunner.

In Williams’ return home Sunday to the Washington area, it was Daniels — the new hero around these parts — who added to his legend with a Hail Mary.

“Weird,” Williams said. “Definitely weird. But we’ve got to keep moving on.”