The Chicago Bears‘ offense was a freight train against the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, but quarterback Caleb Williams was not reveling in the team’s performance during his postgame press conference.
Williams offered stunning criticism of his team after its 22-point victory, describing the Week 1 performance as what will likely be Chicago’s “worst game” of the season.
“That’s who we want to be this week. We got to go clean up. We want to be truthers,” Willams said, per Chris Emma of The Score. “Obviously, this is going to be our kind of worst game. I know [the 59] points don’t necessarily show that — but execution, the blocking, the penalties, all these different things.”
Ben Johnson Declares Bears Want Best Offense in NFL
Williams finished the contest 21-of-29 passing for 269 yards and two TDs, as well as a QB rating of 124.1. He added 65 rushing yards and two scores on 10 carries.
Meanwhile, D’Andre Swift (124) and Kyle Monangai (100) each ran for at least 100 yards and scored three TDs and one TD, respectively. Chicago produced an average of 7.5 yards per carry, tallying 291 ground yards on 39 attempts.
In total, Chicago produced 552 yards of offense. Head coach Ben Johnson spoke to the performance following the game.
“We want to be the highest-scoring, we want to have the most wins, we want to win the Super Bowl,” Johnson said. “That’s what we do. You don’t get into this profession trying to be mediocre or average.”
D’Andre Swift Echoed Caleb Williams’ Comments About Bears’ Mistakes in Big Win
Swift, who put on a performance following the team’s decision earlier in the week to extend the starting running back on a three-year contract worth nearly $34 million total, shared similar thoughts with ESPN’s Courtney Cronin during a postgame interview.
“On the field postgame, D’Andre Swift told me the Bears offense could have made this game look a lot worse than the 59 points they rolled up on Carolina in the opener,” Cronin wrote.
“Worse?! I asked him what he meant, and he pointed to the penalties that stifled the offense at time, yet the unit still managed to have 5 different players reach the end zone and put up 552 yards,” Cronin continued. “The Bears offense put on a show in Week 1. Wow.”
Swift had not had an opportunity to correlate his response to Cronin with Williams’ message during the postgame press conference, unless the two did so on the sideline before the final whistle blew.
That both of them had the same reaction, looking to what they could improve on as a unit, is a great sign of things to come for an offense that appears like it could contend for the moniker of most potent in the NFL this season.
However, the defense’s woes, which included affording the Panthers 478 yards of total offense and 37 points is anything but a good omen of things to come.
Bears QB Caleb Williams Offers Stunning Criticism of Team After 59-Point Game