cornerback Tyrique Stevenson becoming distracted<\/a> and trash talking with fans in the crowd while Daniels snapped the ball and receivers started running downfield. \u201cI know some guys spoke on it and gave their two cents, but beyond that, it wasn\u2019t a big deal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe kick was set up by running back D\u2019Andre Swift, who finished with 108 rushing yards on 14 carries (7.8 average) and had two catches for 67 yards, 55 of which came on a fourth-quarter touchdown that cut Chicago\u2019s deficit to 24-22 with 10:26 to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swift ran for 19 yards on Chicago\u2019s final drive and punctuated it with a 10-yard rush that took Moody from borderline 50-yard range to a more manageable distance. Johnson sounded like the father of Taylor Swift fans after a long road trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat drive was a lot of \u2018Swiftie\u2019 there,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Until Williams ran for the final time to set up Moody\u2019s final of four field goal makes, the Bears had rushed for 147 yards on 26 attempts. Johnson gave Swift more praise, saying it was the best and most efficient rushing attack from his team this season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReally felt an attitude with him \u2026 he played a physical style,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cNot only that \u2013 the catch, 55-yard touchdown was really a game-changer for us. It was a time in the game where we needed a little spark. We were faltering just a little bit as a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll it takes is one guy to make a big play like that and really ignite us again. I think it\u2019s who I really thought he was going to be going into the season. We\u2019re looking for guys that can elevate people around them. He did that (Monday).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the cleanest game from the Bears\u2019 blockers, tight ends included, Johnson said. He wanted the Bears to have the ball last to prevent a rebuttal from the Commanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen they can be explosive in those moments,\u201d Williams said in a veiled reference to the Daniels \u201cHail Mary\u201d pass that was tipped and landed in the hands of Noah Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Williams added: \u201cThe mindset was be able to hold the ball, run the ball, run the ball, make them use their timeouts. Stay in bounds. Play smart, situational football at the end of the game and go win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is an extremely Dan Campbell- and Detroit Lions-coded way of approaching the end of a tight game in the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson told Williams on the headset not that this was a particularly great play call but to \u201ctell the big guys up front that we\u2019re going to ride the run game into victory,\u201d the head coach said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because while Johnson must make Williams into a player worthy of the \u201cfranchise QB\u201d label, the way the former Lions offensive coordinator wants to control contests is through the ground game. It\u2019s the most logical route to domination as Williams continues developing as a pro and grows into the immense talent base.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have moments like this, it does lift a weight off your chest and shoulders,\u201d Williams said, \u201cso we want to keep the run game going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The painstaking and at-times publicly frustrating installation process that took place throughout the offseason is apparent as Williams weaves and tosses and pitches and hands off to whoever happens to carry the ball on a given play, as it could be anybody (six different players had a carry by the time the game was halfway through the second quarter).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson may let Williams know when plays are going to work, but Williams still has to let the other 10 players in the huddle know the call. He messed up that responsibility on the play that eventually became Swift\u2019s fourth-quarter touchdown. Williams credited his teammates for still lining up well enough to execute something that resembled the play. Swift ran a great route and turned his eyes around early enough for Williams to give him the ball in space. The former Georgia Bulldog did the rest by shedding Commanders safety Quan Martin near the sideline and winning a footrace against cornerback Marshon Lattimore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ended up fixing it when the ball got snapped,\u201d Williams quipped.<\/p>\n
Other players on offense, such as wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, can see the reason Johnson has garnered the reputation of an offensive mastermind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool man. You see how his mind works,\u201d Zaccheaus told USA TODAY Sports. \u201cObviously the whole staff cultivates the plan, but it\u2019s cool to see the moving parts and how everything works together within the game plan. It\u2019s cool to see week to week.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bears center Drew Dalman, who signed with the team as a free agent this offseason, said the entire staff\u2019s acumen puts players in advantageous positions. They harp on the standard of execution. Then it\u2019s up to the 11 guys on the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really what makes our run game \u2013 or just (the offense) in general (special),\u201d Dalman told USA TODAY Sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It can\u2019t be all smiles for the Bears after Monday\u2019s performance. They committed nine penalties for 84 yards and supplied the Commanders with four of their 22 first downs via the yellow laundry. They gave away a 13-0 lead before Washington could not execute a simple quarterback-running back exchange and the ball bounced the Bears\u2019 way (they won the turnover battle 3-0). Zaccheaus, the former Commander, had a costly drop with plenty of room in front of him. Chicago started 1-for-7 on third down but finished at 30%. Left tackle Theo Benedet was flagged on an impressive fade ball from Williams to Rome Odunze, who tracked the pass into the corner of the end zone for what would have been a touchdown. Daniels threw a red-zone interception on the Commanders\u2019 opening possession, and Matt Gay hit the upright on a 50-yard field goal in the second quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the final play of the third quarter, Williams turned a third-and-short into a fourth-and-6 because he mishandled the shotgun snap. The Commanders blocked Moody\u2019s 48-yard field goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even when things looked bleak, not showing frustration or negative body language is something Williams said he has worked on because he knows everyone is looking at him on the sideline. \u201cIn those moments, we don\u2019t have time for that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s time to go win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson said the close victories \u2013 Chicago defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 25-24 heading into their Week 5 bye, also on the last play of the game \u2013 say a lot about the Bears\u2019 locker room. Players believe in one another and have cultivated an understanding that somebody will step up to make a play in crunch time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think these wins sometimes can go a longer way for your program than blowouts do,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In that case, maybe the Bears and their high-profile quarterback-coach pairing are further along than expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Which NFL coaches are on the hot seat after Week 6? With Brian Callahan out, the NFL hot…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[8015,8019,10809,128034,56577,96578,18263,960,531,52141,153519,61781,18269,1318,11652,5386,1818,50,1232,12623,45750,153517,38923,450,1457,1451,34294,18267,94918,62,1458,11543,48221,48227,2058,534,2612,153518],"class_list":{"0":"post-302188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-bears","11":"tag-cairo","12":"tag-cairo-santos","13":"tag-caleb","14":"tag-caleb-williams","15":"tag-chicago","16":"tag-chicago-bears","17":"tag-commanders","18":"tag-dalman","19":"tag-drew","20":"tag-drew-dalman","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-hub","23":"tag-il","24":"tag-illinois","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-nfl","27":"tag-nfl-hub","28":"tag-odunze","29":"tag-olamide","30":"tag-olamide-zaccheaus","31":"tag-overall","32":"tag-overall-positive","33":"tag-positive","34":"tag-rome","35":"tag-rome-odunze","36":"tag-santos","37":"tag-sports","38":"tag-sports-news","39":"tag-stevenson","40":"tag-tyrique","41":"tag-tyrique-stevenson","42":"tag-washington","43":"tag-washington-commanders","44":"tag-williams","45":"tag-zaccheaus"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115371639461750835","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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