Just so we’re clear, there is no rock bottom to the sheer collective misery known as the Chicago Bears. If you ever wonder if this incompetent organization could really get worse or more bleak, it can. The Bears’ rock bottom has a dank and dark basement, and no one knows when it ends.
READ MORE: A battered Caleb Williams on the sideline perfectly sums up the Bears’ ongoing disaster.
Take the recent success of Caleb Williams in avoiding turnovers.
With the Bears’ loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday in the picture, Williams officially hasn’t thrown an interception since October 13. He’s gone over 320 pass attempts without throwing the ball to the other team. It doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie (it’s the longest interception-less rookie streak by over 100 attempts now) or a veteran starter. That sort of streak is impressive. This is especially so if you’re on the usually woeful Bears (it’s also the longest interception-less streak Chicago has ever had).
Yet, the 4-11 Bears have still lost nine straight games in that span — one of the longest losing streaks in franchise history.
It’s the worst kind of NFL history. Before the 2024 Bears, no team had lost at least nine games in a single season where its starting quarterback didn’t throw a pick in over seven decades. Only the Bears, folks:
From NFL Research:
Caleb Williams has now lost 9 starts in which he threw 0 interceptions, which is now the most such losses in a single season since QB starts were first tracked in 1950
His INT-less attempts streak has now reached 326, which is over 100 attempts longer than…
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) December 22, 2024
I know what your first thought might be here. It’s that Williams is actively avoiding taking risks and is playing with more of a cautious dink-and-dunk approach that limits turnovers. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Per FTN, Williams leads the NFL in air yards with 4,168 — the measurement of a pass to a receiver’s hands before they start making gains after the catch. The shot plays are there. While it’s not as much as you’d like to have for a functional offense, he’s getting deep passes off to Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen, and D.J. Moore. He’s taking the necessary chances.
It speaks volumes that the Bears have managed to crater as a team anyway. For decades, Chicago has waited for competent quarterback play from a guy who wouldn’t throw interceptions. It was said this would be the difference in the Bears’ hopeful success. (Which isn’t a crazy thing to think.)
Now, the city (kind of) has it, and it still doesn’t matter.
The depths of the Bears’ basement, at their rock bottom, are impossible to measure.
