Mark difficulties to start each half

The Bears have had scoring issues all year in the first quarter of games. Williams then had a passer rating of 81.6. That’s not even his worst passer rating per quarter, far from it.

It was in the third quarter that Williams really struggled. He then has a passer rating of 65.7, according to NFL.com. His third-quarter completion rate of 55.7% is also his worst by quarter.

However, his passer rating in the fourth quarter is now a respectable 90.5. This was a real problem for former Bears quarterback Justin Fields, as he ranked in the bottom five in fourth-quarter passer rating among starters throughout last season and was even worse than many replacements.

Often, a higher passer rating in the fourth quarter can be the result of passes being thrown under coverage in an attempt to play catch-up football while being in double digits.

The Bears have only been in this situation once, and that was last week.

Strong efforts in the fourth quarter

NFL.com tracks fourth-quarter passer rating in games where the teams are within seven points and Williams’ rating is then 85 – still not great considering the offense’s overall performance .

When a team comes out and immediately struggles in games, then struggles again after halftime to adjust their plan, that only indicates a problem in one spot.

The offensive coordinator is not doing his job when it comes to planning a plan of attack.

Earlier in the season, there was a lot of talk about Waldron not adhering to a common 15-play script before games.

“I mean, we always have opening games that we practice and that’s a big part of it,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “So we have several plays listed as openers. So openers are plays that you’re going to use on first down and second down and then obviously you go to your third down script based on the distances. That’s what almost all of the world made.”

But not everyone struggles in the first and third quarters like the Bears.

Eberflus said at the time that he made the changes after player executives met with coaches.

“It was just communication with the leadership of the offense, Shane and myself, to be able to get these (plays) in order,” Eberflus said. “So we put them in order, so the guys knew exactly what play 1 was, play 2 and so on and what the first third down plays were and kind of worked that way.

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What’s wrong with Caleb Williams’ deep throws?

“So that’s an important part. Guys can practice that. They can rehearse it mentally in their mind. They can obviously rehearse it in the presentations that they did before the game and just put them in order, so it’s is really all that was But again, it’s just good communication Guys working together to come up with the right answer, but it’s always going to be the right answer for the group.

If Williams’ play is better in the second and fourth quarters, and they now write plays in a way more conducive to what players can run unsuccessfully, there could be just another problem .

The game plans they come up with and the changes they make at halftime are weak or confusing and that contributes to the problem.

No vote of confidence for QB

Waldron didn’t exactly throw Williams under the bus this week in assessing the situation with poor starts. However, he certainly didn’t say that Williams played well in those situations.

“I think for Caleb, every week will be a new set of circumstances that he has to deal with,” Waldron said. “Different defensive structures. Different blitz models. All the things that play out.

“So for him, every week, just keep working on playing with clean eyes, clean feet, playing fast in the pocket right there and that’s something that – looking at all the different young quarterbacks – there’s had some ups and downs along the way and what gives me all the confidence in Caleb is his dedication to his craft, the way he shows up to work every day. and coaching him and the guys who around him, working hard to make this thing move forward and move forward in a coherent way.”

When coach Matt Eberflus was looking for an offensive coordinator, he told everyone he wanted someone who could adjust his game plan as the games went on and especially be effective in the fourth quarters.

Luke Getsy’s Bears offenses had early success, followed by mediocre results and Eberflus didn’t want that because most games are decided in the fourth quarter. Getsy’s Bears first offense actually led the NFL in scoring on first drives at 70.6% according to Warren Sharp with Sharp Football.

They haven’t scored a touchdown this year on opening drives and have 10 points in the first quarter.

So it looks like Eberflus got exactly what he wanted in an offensive coordinator.

He has one who adapts as the game goes on after having one who could score early but didn’t adapt.

The problem is that the trade-off is that they don’t score early now before going into games and adapting.

Scoring late is no better than early

Either model is an invitation to defeat in the NFL.

They need an offense that can score consistently every time they have the ball.

More importantly, they need game plans that can earn them points early on so they don’t have to work as hard later in games.

When times got bad for the Bears offense under Matt Nagy, he changed the signal callers. He did it, he had Bill Lazor do it for a while. This comes from the years in Kansas City where Andy Reid was similarly changing.

Given the consistent failure of Waldron’s offenses to produce anything coming out of the locker room in either half but to come into play in the second and fourth quarters, it is perhaps -time for Eberflus to borrow a page from Nagy and change playing roles.

Passing game coordinator Thomas Brown has playmaking experience as the former Panthers offensive coordinator. Maybe it’s time to let him test that in Waldron’s offense.

Twitter: BearsOnSI