Bears News: Brown reacts to frustrating offensive play against Seahawks |
CHICAGO—The season will finally end on Sunday, Jan. 5 (Noon / FOX), when the Chicago Bears play the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field. Chicago will try to end the season with a win instead of ending the year with an 11-game losing streak.
In their last game against the Seattle Seahawks, the defense and special teams units did everything they could to get the Bears a win. Chicago’s defense held Seattle to just six points, while rookie punter Tory Taylor had a season-high 327 net yards on seven punts, displaying his ability to flip the field. However, the offense could only muster three points, which came on a 13-play, 67-yard drive in the second quarter. The lack of offense frustrates interim head coach Thomas Brown, especially since he is the one calling the plays. “The frustration from an offensive standpoint again. (We continued) to not (start) effectively to start the game, to miss opportunities and not being able to finish at the end is irritating,” Brown said. “But, I do also, as I think about the last couple years of my career and life in general, reflect on difficulties and how much I’ve thankfully learned and grown to appreciate difficult moments.” Part of why the offense could not get into a rhythm was because rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked seven times, making it the fourth game this season he was sacked at least seven times. He has been sacked the most of any quarterback in the league this year, with 67 sacks for a loss of 459 yards. Currently, Williams ranks fourth all-time in most times sacked in a season, and the Bears have one game left against a team that sacked him three times back when the offense was playing better. The offensive line is certainly an issue for the Bears going forward. Their quarterbacks continue to get pummelled, no matter who it is. The past two quarterbacks for Chicago have had a season where they led the league in sacks as Justin Fields accomplished this in 2022 when he was sacked 55 times. Despite the offensive line's history of poor play, Brown maintains it would be unfair to solely blame the offensive line, as Williams is also partially to blame. “I think obviously when people just see sacks, they just think about the offensive line in general which is also just a misunderstanding of how football works and not watching football games. Obviously, talked to (Williams) about how to improve, how to become better and the understanding of the rhythm and timing of the passing game, how to have more accountability from a pre-snap standpoint of diagnosing potential issues, pressures and also kind of being able to anticipate some stuff from a post-snap standpoint,” Brown said. “But, we got to do a better job of protecting as well at times, but also him being able to understand how to get through progressions a little bit quicker, seeing some post-snap reads. But also, as I mentioned before, the more you can stay balanced (and) remain balanced from (an) offensive standpoint, the more you alleviate true dropback opportunities.” Given that the Bears are already out of the playoffs, there was some question about whether all of the starters would play. Brown confirmed that every healthy veteran player, including Williams, will play on Sunday against Green Bay. The Packers still have something to play for. They are fighting to keep the No. 6 seed, which would allow them to potentially face the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the playoffs; Green Bay defeated the Rams 24-19 earlier in the season.
