CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Bears still look discombobulated on offense. Terrible offensive line play led to pointing fingers at terrible play-calling after a game that felt more like an ominous weather forecast than a prophecy of progression when it comes to scoring the football.

But the thing is, Caleb Williams will still be fine.

Sunshine always comes after the rain.

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My commute on Sunday was a lot like the Bears-Colts game that took place a couple hours east — dreary, grey, boring.

It was the type of day where you open the front door and your first instinct is to sigh as you look around, which was the case as I headed to work.

Positioned against murky skies, rain gently fell against the bay windows positioned above my front door, laying the foundation for what was about to happen, and leading to my next thought.

“Going to need an umbrella today.”

And so, with a brown leather backpack draped over both shoulders, I opened the front door and unfurled my umbrella in one fluid motion, looking around as I let out a sigh beholding a world that was nothing but wet and gloomy.

“What a beautiful day for some Bears football,” I thought, smiling sarcastically.

As I approached my car and fumbled around for the keys in my pocket, I imagined the weather was a fair approximation of how fans felt about the franchise before kickoff.

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By game’s end, the offensive line more so resembled a set of turnstiles at Churchill Downs than a gaggle of road graters that have so commonly opened running lanes for Bears backs in recent years.

Chicago ranked first in the NFL in rushing yards in 2022, and second in 2023. Through three games this year, the Bears are 30th in rushing yards (218) and 31st in yards-per-carry (3.0).

It’s almost like a speed option out left shouldn’t be called on fourth-and-one, or every single Bears offensive lineman shouldn’t get hosed on their blocking assignment when it’s called.

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“Speed option on you know [fourth down], obviously wasn’t the greatest look to run that,” said Coleman Shelton, the Bears’ starting center. “To be honest, I was blocking so, I didn’t see what happened outside. You know, sometimes it’s hard to look back at one play and say that’s the play that did it.

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you what really happened. We’ll look at the film and we’ll try to grow from it.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Shelton is their 21st-ranked center out of 33 players eligible to be ranked in their database. Across Chicago’s offensive line from left-to-right, Braxton Jones ranks 33/73, Teven Jenkins 28/67, Shelton 21/33, Nate Davis 49/67, Matt Pryor 32/67 and Darnell Wright 36/73.

Their film sessions should be interesting this week.

Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze showed promise — Williams set the Bears’ single-game rookie passing yards record (363), while Odunze hauled in six catches for 112 yards and a touchdown — But their trust and communication between one another continues to need development.

Here’s an example — Williams trusts Rome and throws him the deep post, but Rome doesn’t trust Rome to finish the route.

“A lot of these plays, like I’ve said in other interviews, these small details always add up to be something bigger,” Williams said postgame Sunday.

A nuanced detail, but still somewhere the two can improve.

And then there was the defense, which looked somewhat ordinary trying to stop the human bowling ball that is Jonathan Taylor, who finished with over 100 yards on the ground and a pair of scores against Chicago.

All that being said, I’m still looking at this as a glass-half-full moment in time when it comes to the grand scheme of the Bears in 2024.

“This is our third game and there is some positivity to take out of this. We’re encouraged,” said head coach Matt Eberflus after the game. “We’re encouraged in that locker room … We have our heads moving forward, eyes moving forward, and we’re going to get better this week.

“To me, there is better production on the offensive side. There was better production in terms of who we got the ball to, and the efficiency just needs to be better in certain areas.”

While the chemistry wasn’t consistent and mistakes were made, there were palpable examples of the quarterback Williams can become, especially when he threw the ball to Odunze Sunday.

“Watching film, going through practices and things like that, I told Rome that I’m going to give him the ball some more,” Williams said. “The routes [he] runs, the trust and belief that I have in him, that’s why I threw that ball to him that ended up being a pick, which I told him, I’ll come back to him [after that].”

And come back to him, Williams did. Odunze tied for the team lead in targets with Cole Kmet at 11 a piece, which included a beautiful drop in the bucket for a 47-yard gain early in the second quarter.

“We’ve been working on some of our different routes and things like that,” Williams said. “Throughout these weeks, every day, we get about ten to 15 passes with each other after practice [on] certain passes like that. A lot of times, the deep downfield balls are rhythm routes that you have to try and keep your receiver in stride.

“He had a great route, made a great catch, and gave us a chance.”

Compared to their first two games on offense, Williams also gave the Bears a chance.

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His 363 yards Sunday were nearly 100 yards more than what he threw for across his first two games combined and while he finished with two interceptions, he also threw his first two career touchdown passes, both of which came when they were needed most — the fourth quarter.

It just so happened Chicago’s defense lost an end-of-game duel with one of the league’s best running backs in Taylor.

“It’s a long season so, being able to adapt, change … because we got special guys, whether it’s offensive line, running backs and wide receivers,” Williams said. “It starts with communication and then from there you can be consistent because then it works well with our guys and our belief.”

Like Williams said, it’s a long season and even though it may be raining at the moment, it can’t last forever — Even in the case of the Bears’ cursed history of quarterbacks.

Sunshine always comes after the rain.

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