On a night of offensive ineptitude, it was fitting Thursday's tilt between the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks ended in a wobbly duck from Caleb Williams getting picked off.
In a last-ditch effort to force overtime, Williams faced an all-out blitz from Seattle on fourth-and-10 from the 40-yard-line. The rookie tried to hit D.J. Moore deep, but, getting hit upon the release, the pigskin fluttered well short and was intercepted by Tariq Woolen to secure the Seahawks' 6-3 road win.
"I was frustrated. Still frustrated," Williams said, via the team's official transcript. "I'm going to probably be frustrated until tomorrow after I get a good chance to watch it and things like that. I didn't play well enough. I didn't help put the team in a good position to win, a better position to win, and that's what it is."
Williams finished 16 of 28 for 122 yards with the INT for a passer rating of 53.0.
The interception snapped Williams' rookie record of 353 passes without an interception. However, even before the pick, the Bears offense remained a mess all night. Chicago generated 179 total yards of offense and just 11 first downs on the night. On just two of nine drives did the Bears earn more than a singular first down -- one of those coming on the desperation final possession.
An offense with the No. 1 overall pick at the helm, Moore, Keenan Allen and first-round pick Rome Odunze shouldn't be this anemic, regardless of how well the opposing defense played.
"I think today was one of those games that I think we played two sides of the ball today pretty well, special teams, and defense," Williams said. "And then offense, we didn't play well. There were miscues. There were stupid sacks that I was taking, losing 10, 14 yards, which is frustrating. But I will say that I will definitely take the heat for this one just because some of the situations that I put us in, like I said, that sack that I took that I didn't need to take, which put us -- we were empty and I brought a guy from the boundary. Just throw it over the guy's head. And you're still playing, obviously you want to get a positive play there. But in that sense, it's a positive play. So got to be better."
There are brief flashes each week from the No. 1 overall pick -- like Thursday night's off-balance fourth-down connection with Moore ahead of the two-minute warning -- but not enough consistency from the QB or the surrounding talent.
Williams took seven sacks on the night, pushing his total to 67 through 16 games, second-most among rookies and fourth-most among quarterbacks all-time.
"Frustrating, annoyed, but learning, I would say," Williams said. "I definitely think that this is going to be good for me. Excited about this last game and then excited about the future."
Interim coach Thomas Brown, whose offense struggled again since he was elevated to the big chair four games ago, took the blame for the latest offensive ineptitude, noting the unit didn't "execute."
"I wasn't good enough. Put it on me," he said.
Thursday marked the second time this season that the Bears scored just three points in a contest; Chicago is the only team to score three or fewer points multiple times this season. The last time (Week 10 vs. New England) got former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron fired.
