Declan Doyle: Caleb Williams “improving,” Bears must finish drives

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 3 hours ago

CHICAGO - Through the first two games of the season, the Chicago Bears' offense has been superb on the opening drive. Unfortunately, they cannot figure out how to score consistently after the opening drive.

Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle does not seem to have an answer for why the Bears offense cannot sustain the momentum from the opening drive throughout the game.

“I think our guys have come out and shown up on those first drives in both games. Played up to our standard in both of those and able to come away with points. It’s something that really we’d love to build off of,” Doyle said. “Obviously, you want to start fast and then you want to be able to keep that momentum going and being able to do that twice and our guys do a good job of being prepared and being ready for the plan. A lot of times, those plays are prescripted out. They know what’s coming and so, we’re able to prepare for that and really anticipate what we’re going to see. But, we’ve done a good job in the last couple weeks getting points on that first drive.”

Part of what Chicago fans need to see this season is improvement from quarterback Caleb Williams to show he really can be the franchise quarterback the Bears have been looking for. So far in the first two games, he is still showing some of the same trends from last season, such as holding onto the ball too long and making some ill-advised throws.

Despite the continued struggles, Doyle maintains that Williams has improved from the beginning of the season and will continue to grow as the season progresses.

“I think Caleb played better in this game. I think you saw a guy who has improved. Since we got here, he’s improved a little bit at a time. This is a process. But, obviously, (he) played better than that first week,” Doyle said. “We expect him to continue to progress. We expect next week to be better than this week and his focus is in the right place. He’s coming to work everyday and trying to really match his habits with his expectations and that’s really where we’re at right now with him.”

Chicago will play their first non-division game of the season against former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus on Sun. Sept. 21 (3:25 p.m. / FOX) as he is now the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.

The Bears come into this game 0-2 and really need their first win of the season.

If the Bears are going to get this win against Dallas, they will need to get the running game going. However, starting running back D’Andre Swift currently has 116 rushing yards, one touchdown and five first downs this season. Swift has yet to rise to the occasion and be a bellcow for an NFL team in his over six years in the league and is not looking like he will do it this season either. Nonetheless, Doyle is confident Swift can bring himself to be that guy.

“He’s a guy that we feel like we can count on in big moments. He’s a guy that we feel like can be a bellcow and carry the ball and I was pleased with the way he played early,” Doyle said. “He’s a guy that we’re going to continue to try to utilize and put the ball in his hands in favorable positions.”