Week 13 brought another Chicago Bears win, and with it, head coach Ben Johnson and his team held onto the top spot in the NFC North.
Chicago showed the NFL world once again that it means business with a fifth straight win. Though the Bears' offense has been excelling in unexpected places, Caleb Williams has several areas of improvement that he and the Bears' coaching staff should focus on.
A Look At Williams in Week 13
It's not a secret that Williams has been experiencing a bit of an accuracy issue. At 47.2% accurate, Williams had his worst outing yet this season, only completing seventeen passes on 36 attempts.
On the season, Williams is completing only 58.1% of his passes, one of the worst rates in the league. Not all plays are in Williams' hands, of course, but the young quarterback needs to get his accuracy together if he's to hold his aspirations of leading this team into the playoffs.
Chicago's passing game shrank dramatically between Week 12 and Week 13. Caleb's completion percentage may have dropped only slightly, but the average completion length dropped markedly.
Week 12 against the Steelers saw an average of 6.8 Yards, while the Eagles game saw an average of 4.3 Yards. What this shows us is that even the passes that Williams was completing still weren't as effective as they were in past games. This is another reason the Bears' run game shone as bright as it did.
The Bears' offense was on the field for a staggering 39:18, to the Eagles' 20:42. It's difficult for any team, even the reigning Super Bowl Champs, to overcome a two-thirds deficit in ball control.
Williams and the Bears sustained their drives for length this week, and keeping the penalties to a minimum helped as well. The foundation is there, but Chicago will need sharper quarterback play to match the growth happening across the rest of the roster.
The Final Push
As the NFL enters its final five weeks of the season, the Bears face the Packers twice and the Lions for a Week 18 matchup. With the NFC North as tight as it is, and the Packers' tie against the Cowboys as relevant as ever, the Bears need to finish strong against their divisional opponents.
Read more: Ex-Packers Pro Bowler made a Bears admission no one ever expected
The Bears may have started 0-2 in their own division, but they have lost only one game since then, and that loss occurred in September. Coming off a road win over the Eagles, the team has sent a clear message to the NFL. How they handle these last few weeks will define the beginning of the Ben Johnson Era in Chicago.