The best and worst of Caleb Williams is on display on "Sunday Night Football." The star Chicago Bears quarterback threw for two touchdowns in the first half but also coughed the ball up three times with a trio of second-quarter interceptions. Through the ups and downs, Williams guided the Bears to a 17-6 lead at the break.
Williams connected with Rome Odunze on the opening possession for the wide receiver's first touchdown of the season, and on the next drive, he delivered an even more explosive scoring strike with a 56-yard touchdown pass to Luther Burden III. The Bears' offense was flying high, and they got the job done on the other side of the ball, too, to build a 14-0 lead through one quarter.
But then came the turnovers. Chicago was in the final stages of completing another scoring drive when Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith hauled in an interception just shy of the end zone. The very next time Williams touched the ball, he threw another pick, this time to cornerback Zyon McCollum. And with just 38 seconds left in the half, McCollum made him pay for another sloppy throwaway attempt with a diving grab.
The consolation for the Bears was that Tampa Bay was mostly unable to capitalize on those takeaways. A turnover on downs and a quick four-play drive that ended in a punt put the first two extra Buccaneers possessions to waste and left quarterback Baker Mayfield visibly frustrated with his offense's inability to move the ball. All they could muster on the final drive was a chip-shot field goal as time expired in the first half.
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Tampa put together a nice-looking last-second drive but gone down to the 3-yard line with only three seconds left in the half. Rather than going for it, Todd Bowles sent out the field goal team down in the low red zone for the second time. It's an 11-point game at the half.
Once again, on the first play after a Bucs turnover, Caleb Williams puts the ball up for grabs while fading away and gets picked off by Zyon McCollum. Second time he's done this now. It's Caleb's third interception of the game, a new career high.
The Bucs were driving and in position to cut into the lead, but Cam Lewis jumped the underneath pass intended for Tez Johnson and picked it off. He was all over the route the entire time.
Tampa had to punt following the last Williams interception after a Tez Johnson drop. The Bears worked the ball deep into Buccaneers territory but stalled out in the red zone thanks to a nice tackle and then pressure from Bucs first-rounder Rueben Bain Jr. Chicago settled for a short Cairo Santos field goal to extend the lead.
On the first play after the turnover on downs, Williams threw the ball up for grabs under pressure and got intercepted by Zyon McCollum. This game is making me dizzy.
After the interception, the Bucs got into fourth-and-1 near the 35-yard line and tried to run a QB sneak, but Baker Mayfield got absolutely popped by Devin Bush and came up short. Chicago takes over with great field position.
What a turn of events for the Bucs, who were on the verge of going down by three scores. Instead, Tykee Smith comes up with a massive interception down by the goal line and gives Tampa new life. Huge play.
Tampa got all the way down to the goal line after converting a fourth-and-2 earlier in the drive, but stalled out thanks to a couple of nice plays from Bears linebackers on a play-action pass to Cade Otton and then a run by Kenny Gainwell. Chase McLaughlin connected on a short kick to cut into the lead early in the second quarter.
Oh boy. The Bears are on a roll. Back-to-back touchdown drives to open the game and go up by two scores early. This touchdown comes on a ridiculous catch and run from Burden, who broke a couple tackles and just took off down the field for a 56-yard score.
Chicago put together a nearly flawless opening drive, marching 53 yards on 10 plays and getting into the end zone with this scramble drill throw from Caleb Williams to Odunze for the latter's first touchdown grab of the year. (Odunze had previously bobbled what should have been a TD on first down. He made up for it here.) Bears grab an early lead and put the Bucs in a trailing game script they haven't seen over the last couple of weeks.
Caleb Williams has been excellent since his return from a hamstring injury. He's completed 73.8% of his passes at an average of 8.3 yards per attempt, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He hasn't scrambled as much or as well as he did early in the season (11 carries for 22 yards), but the passing has been great.
Tampa has run the ball like crazy over the last two weeks, rushing for 258 yards against the Panthers in Week 7 and 322 against the Falcons in Week 8. Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell have combined to carry the entire offense while Baker Mayfield has barely had to throw any passes - and didn't complete a single pass last week in the win over Atlanta.
