2024-10-14 19:50:04
The Bears defense delivered another strong performance, limiting the Jaguars to 278 yards while generating two takeaways and four sacks.
“I thought our D-line really rushed well today, got some really good pressures,” Eberflus said. “The linebackers, those guys are always playing hot.”
D’Andre Swift had another stellar game, rushing for 91 yards and one TD on 17 carries and catching four passes for 28 yards.
“The big thing about Swift is to get him out in space because then he can be electric,” Eberflus said. “I was really pleased how he ran the ball today. It was good in terms of the [rushing] average. But you need some explosives and you’ve got to limit those on defense and I thought we did that on both sides of the ball.”
Kmet led the Bears in receiving with five catches for 70 yards, including TD receptions of 31 and 2 yards. He also filled in at long snapper after Scott Daly exited late in the first quarter after injuring his knee covering a punt. Kmet handled six snaps on one field goal and five extra points.
“That’s elite,” Allen said. “We were talking about that on the sideline. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy score a touchdown and then do a snap. Pretty solid.”
Allen was pretty solid as well, enjoying his best game of the season with five receptions for 41 yards and two TDs.
“We’ve all seen it,” Eberflus said. “He’s had a long career. He’s made a lot of plays. He’s always open, that guy. [Opponents] try to double cover him, in front, behind, sideways. It doesn’t work. He’s always open. He’s an exciting player.”
After the Jaguars (1-5) took a 3-0 lead on Cam Little’s 30-yard field goal on their first possession of the game, the Bears answered early in the second quarter.
Williams threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Kmet, giving the Bears a 7-3 lead with 11:07 left in the first half. After faking a screen pass to the left and then to the right, Williams threw over the middle to Kmet, who broke one tackle and then dragged another defender into the end zone while stretching the ball across the goal line.
“That was a great play call,” Allen said. “We were on the perfect spot on the field to dial it up. That was one of the plays going into the game where we were like, ‘We’ve got a good chance to score on this play.’ Cole [did] a hell of a job getting into the end zone, running through a guy.”
On their next possession, the Bears advanced from their own 5 to the Jaguars’ 41, highlighted by Williams’ 28-yard pass to Rome Odunze. But on third-and-1, Williams’ deep pass to Moore was intercepted by safety Andre Cisco at the 7.
The Bears increased their lead to 14-3 on Williams’ 2-yard touchdown pass to Kmet with :13 left in the first half. Their second TD connection of the game capped an impressive 10-play, 85-yard drive that included Williams scrambles of 23 and 19 yards and Williams’ 10-yard pass to Allen on third-and-5.
After being held to seven yards in the first quarter, the Bears gained 216 yards in the second period. In the first half, Williams completed 12 of 15 passes for 128 yards with two TDs.
“He was obviously in a rhythm after the first couple drives,” Allen said. “He was dialing it up … When he’s in a groove like that and all the balls are catchable, it’s pretty easy to play receiver.”
On the Jaguars’ first play of the second half, T.J. Edwards stripped the ball from tight end Evan Engram after a 24-yard reception and Elijah Hicks returned the fumble 19 yards to the Jacksonville 41.
The Bears converted the takeaway as Williams rifled a 9-yard touchdown pass to Allen on third-and-goal, widening the margin to 21-3 with 11:22 to play in the third quarter. The TD came after Allen’s 11-yard reception on third-and-8 sustained the drive and Swift gained 19 yards on a screen pass to the 9.
The Jaguars followed by cutting the deficit to 21-10 on Trevor Lawrence’s 21-yard touchdown pass to receiver Gabe Davis midway through the third quarter.
The Bears answered as Williams threw his fourth TD pass of the game and second to Allen, a 3-yarder on a perfect fade pattern to make it 28-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“It was one-on-one,” Allen said. “It was one high, press coverage. It was actually a run play with a fade check. As soon as you line up, you know what time it is: ‘It’s one-on-one, it’s me and you, Caleb, throw the ball.’ And when I looked up, it was a perfect ball, so I didn’t have to jump up and make a miraculous catch or anything.”
The defense then generated its second takeaway as Josh Blackwell, who was in the game at nickel after Kyler Gordon exited with a hamstring injury, made a sliding interception of Lawrence over the middle, returning it 10 yards to the Jaguars’ 36.
The Bears capitalized on the turnover, extending their lead to 35-10 on Swift’s 1-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.
Lawrence followed with a 5-yard TD pass to Davis to make it 35-16 with 6:58 remaining. But by then, the Bears had already iced their third straight victory, continuing their ascension heading into their bye week.
“We’ve got a lot of leadership, and we feed off each other,” Allen said “The defense is amazing, the offense has gotten better every week, the special teams is second-to-none and I think we do a great job of showing up every day ready to work.”
