Bears' Caleb Williams blames himself for not throwing better pass on his crucial INT against Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Just when it appeared Caleb Williams was on the verge of completing yet another fourth-quarter comeback, he made a regrettable pass on Sunday that knocked the Chicago Bears out of the NFC North lead.

The Bears trailed 28-21 and faced fourth-and-1 from Green Bay’s 14-yard line when Williams faked a handoff and rolled to his left. Rather than checking down or trying to run for the first down, Williams threw into the end zone.

Bears tight end Cole Kmet had gotten behind cornerback Keisean Nixon, but Williams’ pass was underthrown. Nixon made a leaping grab with 22 seconds left, and the Bears' five-game winning streak ended as they fell a half-game behind the Packers in the division.

“In those moments, it’s you know, a got-to-have-it-moment,” said Williams, who went 19 of 35 for 186 yards with two touchdowns. “And they had a guy trailing me, so, I didn’t feel like I could go get it myself (by running). I’ve just got to give Cole a better shot at it. I think next time, just extend him a little bit more and kind of lead him. But in those moments, you want to put the ball in play and trust your guy or try to have your guy go make a play, and (I’ve) just got to give him a better ball.”

Williams had faked a handoff to D’Andre Swift, who then appeared to be open just beyond the first-down marker.

Chicago coach Ben Johnson said the Bears ran a similar play in their previous game, a win at Philadelphia, and it resulted in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Kmet.

“So we’ve got multiple options on that play,” Johnson said. “Caleb felt like Cole was open, and we didn’t hit it. That’s kind of my extent from the sideline. I got to go back and I got to look at it.”

Williams had made a habit of delivering down the stretch during Chicago’s surge as the Bears attempt to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

He has orchestrated five fourth-quarter comebacks this season to match Denver’s Bo Nix for the most by any quarterback. Williams helped the Bears rally from a 14-3 halftime deficit to tie Sunday’s game on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Colston Loveland with eight minutes left.

After Green Bay regained the lead, Williams got Chicago into scoring position by completing a 27-yard pass to Luther Burden and a 24-yarder to Devin Duvernay.

The Bears faced third-and-1 from Green Bay’s 14 when Kyle Monangai was stopped for no gain by Kingsley Enagbare. That set up the fourth-down play that ended Chicago’s hopes.

“We had about two or three guys in front of, either stacking Swift or right there with Swift,” Williams said. “I rolled out and saw Cole and I tried to give him a big-boy ball, try and let him go up for it because I ended up seeing 25 (Nixon) start to sprint. So, I tried to slow them up and kind of give him a chance.”

Williams led scoring drives on each of Chicago’s first three second-half possessions, but he went 6 of 14 for 32 yards in the first half.

The Bears get another shot at Green Bay when they host the Packers on Dec. 20.

“I need to start faster,” Williams said. “We need to start faster, and I think that will do us well as a team and as an offense, especially. That’s something that they did better than us today, I would say, and they made plays at the end of the day.”

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