What Caleb Williams said about surprise preseason appearance vs. Bengals

The Chicago Bears have high expectations for the 2026 season after last season’s impressive playoff run. Chicago did not look great on Saturday, losing 27-9 against Cincinnati. The Bears even made the surprising decision to give the first-team offense some snaps during the first drive of the game.

Bears QB Caleb Williams shared his honest opinion of his performance with reporters after the game.

“No complaints,” Williams said of his performance, per Sean Hammond of Chicago Tribune. “Other than we’ve got to, if we get a penalty — we try not to get penalties obviously, that’s not the goal — but if we get penalties it’s my job and the other guys job to try and get us back in position to try and help (coach Ben Johnson) out in that situation. There’s not many calls that you can have for second-and-20 or third-and-20.”

Williams had the Bears offense moving into the red zone on his lone drive. Unfortunately, a penalty stalled the drive and moved it back in the wrong direction. Chicago was forced to settle for a 45-yard field goal as a result. The Bears decided to sit Williams and the rest of the offensive starters after that drive.

Williams finished 2-of-5 for 28 passing yards. His three incompletions all came after that drive-killing penalty.

One play almost got the Bears out of the jam. Williams targeted Colston Loveland deep down the field on a seam route. But Williams sailed the pass over Loveland’s head for an incompletion.

“That’s not typically our read on that play with that, when they get into that coverage,” Williams explained. “They ended up messing up on defense. (I) tried to find the open guy and just missed.”

Caleb is saying all of the right things after his surprise preseason appearance. But it is still concerning that Chicago couldn’t find success against Cincinnati’s backup defense.

Hopefully Williams and the Bears look more polished in their final preseason game before the regular season.

The Bears finish the preseason with a road game against the Titans on August 29th.

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