The Week 17 loss hurt. It was a brutal way for the Chicago Bears to drop the game, too, with the final play deciding the outcome. But, in the end, this Bears offense put up a monstrous performance against the San Francisco 49ers.
After the game, quarterback Caleb Williams spent some time with the media, as usual. But, he also appeared on ESPN 1000 with former Bears fullback Jason McKie, who offered up a question about the offensive explosion put forth by the Bears in San Francisco.
"440 total yards of offense today. What made you guys so efficient offensively?" McKie asked him.
"I think it starts up front. I think the guys up front did a hell of a job protecting me but also in the run game. We had some big first downs in the run game that sparked us, I would say," the quarterback responded.
Nope, he still won't allow any of the glory to come his way.
Caleb Williams keeps looking more and more like a star quarterback, and he sounds like one too
Williams very well could have taken some of the credit because he played lights-out football for the vast majority of this contest. There were a handful of throws that he made, which, as usual, made viewers stand up out of their seats in amazement.
Some of the passes he made, like, for example, the long touchdowns to both Luther Burden III and Colston Loveland, were about as perfectly thrown as you could get. Every game, it seems, Williams is good for one or two of those passes that come on a rollout to his left, where he has to throw off his left foot awkwardly, and, to no one's surprise, he did that again on Sunday night.
Williams was right about giving credit to his offensive line, though. In the run game, the Bears averaged a healthy 5.0 yards per carry. But when it came to protecting the quarterback, it was yet another strong performance.
The 49ers' defense didn't register a single sack on Chicago's franchise passer, and he not only had time but also made some plays of his own, outside of the pocket when under duress.
Read more: Ryan Poles was just (sort of) vindicated by Ben Johnson's postgame remarks
This was a complete team performance on offense, but Williams was special. Even if he won't admit it (which is a good thing), Williams continues to prove he's been worth every bit of being a no. 1 overall draft pick.