At the quarter mark of the season (!), the Bears being 2-2 just feels right. Turns out, for the 200th straight year, they're not very good on offense. But the defense is carrying them through rough stretches, Caleb Williams looks like A Dude, and when things are going right, it's easy to remember why everyone was so optimistic back in late April.
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Week 4's win over the Rams feels like one of those games that no one will remember even happened by the time the season ends. Neither team played all that well, and realistically the Bears had no business needing 3.5 quarters to put away a Rams team playing in the early time slot without, like, 80% of their starting offense. But winning NFL games is rarely as easy as it's made out to be, and the Bears found a way to end the first month of the season back at .500 – not a bad in-season victory considering how bad they've looked at times. Here are a few winners and losers from Week 4.
Winners and Losers from Bears' Week 4 win over the Rams
Winners
1. Caleb Williams
I know it's not particularly original or interesting to put Williams here week after week, but it's hard to ignore his development even as the Bears fail to look competent around him. He didn't have the most memorable stat line of his season – 17/23 with 157 yards and one touchdown looks very meh on paper – but anyone who's watched the Bears for the first month of the season can tell you how much better he looks in each game. He once again seemed more than comfortable changing protection and plays at the line, and he did well taking the stuff the Rams' defense was giving him.
The deep ball placement is still a weird issue – his first half incompletions to Rome Odunze and DJ Moore looked rough, even if they weren't entirely his fault. Even still, there's plenty of progress being made. And to actually sneak out of these messy early games with a few wins? All the better.
2. Jaquan Brisker
I'm not sure you can call it a breakout game when it's Year 3, but Brisker had arguably the best game of his career on Sunday. He was all over the place, finishing with eight tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack, and the game-ending interception to boot; he probably should have had a second interception, but it was called back after officials reviewed the play and ruled that he stepped out of bounds first. The Bears defense' has some issues against the run, but their secondary is as good as any in the NFL, and Brisker showed on Sunday why he's such a big part of that.
Losers
1. Coaches (take your pick)
A win's a win's a win, but the Bears aren't beating the accusations any time soon. The offense looked pretty terrible for most of the first half – I guess the pep talk that team captains gave Shane Waldron this week wasn't that powerful after all – and even after the Rams finally broke in the second half, the final numbers still weren't all that impressive. Pre-snap penalties are still a huge issue for the Bears – five of their 10 (!) flags on Sunday came before the snap. If the Bears had found a way to lose on Sunday, coaching would be the topic of conversation all week. It's tough to look around the division, see how Kevin O'Connell, Matt La Fleur, and Dan Campbell give their teams distinct advantages, and then watch the Bears continue to make entirely-fixable, training camp-level mistakes.
2. Keenan Allen
It sure seems like Allen's trying to play through an injury, so maybe take Sunday's performance with a grain of salt. Three catches for 19 yards looks awful, until you realize that DJ Moore had three catches for 22 yards and Rome Odunze had one catch for 10. (Coaching!) In two games played this year, Allen has seven catches for 48 yards with, you guessed it, zero touchdowns. The Bears can afford for one of their big three receivers to have an off game now and again, but if said big three is actually kinda just a big one-and-a-half, this offense isn't going to get any better any time soon. It's a long season, but right now, the Allen skeptics – who were worried about injury and age issues – don't look totally wrong.