Here’s what Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears said Monday after loss to Detroit Lions

LAKE FOREST – Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and interim head coach Thomas Brown met with reporters Monday, a day after the team lost its ninth straight game to the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field.

For a third straight week, the Bears failed to be competitive. The defense couldn’t pick up many stops against the Lions’ high-powered offense, while Williams and the offense turned the ball over on two of their first three possessions.

The Bears got back to work Monday with a short week. They’ll play their third game in 11 days Thursday when they host the Seattle Seahawks. Here are three of the most interesting things the Bears said Monday.

On Williams taking chances, feeling more comfortable

One of the lone bright spots during the Bears’ losing streak has been Williams’ continued development. Williams showed off that growth on his second touchdown pass in Sunday’s game.

Earlier in the second quarter, Williams attempted to hit receiver DJ Moore on a deep pass that went about 10 yards farther than his target. He gave the long ball another shot at the end of the first half, fitting a 45-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen down the sideline between two Lions defenders.

The touchdown pass was Williams’ longest of his career. In Brown’s view, it also dispelled the notion that he’s too careful with the football and wary of taking chances.

“Shooters shoot, and he definitely does, which I appreciate,” Brown said. “So I’m going to continue to give him opportunities to shoot.”

With two games left in his rookie season, Williams already has made history by breaking the Bears’ rookie quarterback season passing record along with the NFL’s record for most consecutive passes thrown by a rookie without an interception. Williams still hasn’t thrown an interception during the Bears’ losing streak while throwing 10 touchdowns.

But Williams still has some inefficiencies he wants to fix. Williams fumbled the ball away in each of the past three games and he wants to be more efficient in his alerts and cadence at the line of scrimmage.

Even so, Williams feels more comfortable with the whole operation 15 games into his career.

“I’m a lot more comfortable with that,” Williams said. “Getting up there, being faster with the cadence and things like that. Getting up there and sending the motions of when they need to be snapped. Sending the motion and using my cadence with the motion to be able to undress, to be able to figure out what they’re in or figure out what they’re about to do or have an idea at least.”

On the lack of offensive line continuity

Brown announced that left tackle Braxton Jones will need surgery for an ankle injury he suffered in Sunday’s loss and will miss the rest of the season. Left guard Teven Jenkins also left the game with a calf injury and is considered day-to-day, with a possibility to play against the Seahawks.

Injuries have plagued the offensive line for much of the season. Other than center Coleman Shelton, each of the Bears opening-game starters have missed games this season.

That’s left room for inconsistencies and mistakes.

“Health is a big part of it,” Brown said. “When you have different moving pieces, guys playing in multiple different spots, left side, right side, starting, backing up, the offensive line is a big continuity position, so having those five guys in unison as much as you can, taking reps to communicate things properly, to get the same looks over and over again, that makes it difficult.”

Despite only allowing one sack and three quarterback hits on Williams on Sunday, the Bears offensive line has failed to protect their quarterback for much of the season. Williams has been sacked a Bears' record 59 times this season.

“Shooters shoot and he definitely does, which I appreciate. So I’m going to continue to give him opportunities to shoot.”

—  Thomas Brown, Chicago Bears interim head coach

The Bears will look at all options for Jones’ replacement, including veteran Larry Borum and third-round pick Kiran Amegadjie. Brown said Borum was active over Amegadjie for Sunday’s game because Borum can play on both sides of the ball.

A lack of offensive line consistency has affected Williams more than hits. Williams said Monday there was something to a quarterback having a connection with his linemen and knowing how they like to play so he knows what he can do in different instances.

“It sucks having our guys go down because yes, you do kind of get a feel for how your linemen block and how they block together,” Williams said. “So having those two guys go down, you don’t have as many reps with a couple of the other guys. In a way, you don’t lose the connection, but it’s a little bit different.”

On more defensive lapses

The Bears defense gave a couple more explosive plays in Sunday’s loss to the Lions.

While the fake fumble got plenty of attention, Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams ran past Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and safety Jonathan Owens for an 82-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter.

“Poor eyes,” Brown said of the play. “Eyes in the wrong spot. Also just playing flat foot from a post safety standpoint. From the standpoint of being able to getting a super-fast receiver, but got to put a roof on the top shelf for the coverage.”

The defense has given up plenty of explosive plays during the team’s losing streak, especially since the team fired former head coach Matt Eberflus. The Bears have given up 34 points per game over the past three games since Eberflus was fired and 418.7 total yards per game.

Brown didn’t share the couple of ideas that he had for why the defense has fallen off in recent games but didn’t overlook the impact of injuries. The Bears have played without safety Jaquan Brisker, defensive tackle Andrew Billings and various others for parts of the season.

“Injuries always play a role,” Brown said. “When it comes to rotating a couple different guys in different spots, but just the stuff we’ve got to get cleaned up when it comes to the limiting the explosives, being able to sustain, get guys off the grass a little bit faster, particularly when I talk about third downs.”