Silvy: Caleb Williams’ rough start no reason to panic, Bears fans

It didn’t look right. He doesn’t pass the eye test. Not a single passing touchdown.

For a guy drafted No. 1 overall and all the resources poured into the situation, it’s time to sound the alarms. A new offense was installed with a proven play caller and that’s what it looked like after all that hope?

Don’t be shocked if they’re drafting first overall next year.

Relax, Bears fans. I’m not talking about Caleb Williams.

It’s the team with six degrees of separation – the Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young.

Young went 13-of-30 passing for 160 yards, two interceptions and a QBR of 10.5, in a 47-10 loss. And this is to start his second NFL season.

The point is, the first game of Williams’ career is not a time to get worked up or make any sort of judgments. It was rough and Caleb needs to play much better, but being concerned isn’t an option. Yet.

Keep in mind, I wake up concerned about everything and there’s no panic here. I compared this game to the Bears’ 2006 “crown em” win against Dennis Green and the Cardinals. Hocus pocus. Smoke and mirrors.

Teams trailing by two or more scores at halftime who failed to score an offensive touchdown all game since 2000 are now 3-306. Two of those wins are by the Bears. Once on Sunday and the other time when they came back against the Cardinals with non-offensive scores from Hester, Mike Brown and Peanut Tillman. Another note from that game, Rex Grossman was 14 of 37 with four interceptions. So while Williams did not play well, he didn’t have any soul-crushing plays that exasperated the problem.

Again, this was Williams’ very first game.

Grossman did that as a veteran after being named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month.

In Jay Cutler’s first game in a Bears uniform, coming off a Pro Bowl appearance with the Broncos, he threw four interceptions against the Packers. So while I didn’t think the Bears offense would struggle as much as it did, it could’ve been worse.

Williams seemed to understand much of what he was seeing, but his accuracy must improve. And that’s usually a part of his game that isn’t an issue. Another reason not to hang you head is the simple fact that this team found a way to win. The Bears used to be the Titans.

11 months ago, Matt Eberflus’ team held a 28-7 lead against the Broncos with one minute left in the third quarter. Final score: Broncos 31 Bears 28.

10 months ago, the Bears held a 12-point lead in Detroit with just over three minutes left. Final score: Lions 31 Bears 26.

9 months ago, the Bears were up 10 points against the Browns in the fourth quarter. Final score: Browns 20 Bears 17.

In the 2023 season, the Bears couldn’t win games they were supposed to win. In this year’s season opener, they won a game they had no business winning. Embrace that big change.

And ask Caleb to do better in Week 2, without thinking the sky is falling.

Hot takeaways:

• The interior of the offensive line was a weakness at the start of the offseason and remains that way in the regular season. You can’t fix a problem with quantity, it must come with quality.

The Bears didn’t add quality. Coleman Shelton has familiarity with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, but so did Lucas Patrick with Luke Getsy. You cannot convince me Nate Davis was being rotated when he was bad and never returned after 18 snaps, that’s code for being benched. And Ryan Bates barely played in the preseason and all of last year for the Bills and it showed. It’s a blind spot for Ryan Poles and Ian Cunningham who both played the interior offensive line during their playing careers.

• Velus Jones remains a mistake-prone player with a good ferret story. Huge miss not to trade him.

• By the end of the season Jaylon Johnson will be regarded as one of the great defensive players in the NFL and his contract will be a bargain.

• TJ Edwards is the most underrated player in Chicago sports – and he grew up here. Buy his jersey. Lance Briggs 2.0

• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.