Bears see room to grow after already matching win total from last season

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CHICAGO (AP) — Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears reached into their bag of tricks and dug deep in the end to pull out their wildest victory in years.

They matched their win total from last season and are in the thick of the NFC playoff race. Even so, they know they have room to grow.

“Yeah, we haven’t played our best football collectively as a team yet,” coach Ben Johnson said Monday, a day after the Bears outlasted Cincinnati 47-42 in a thriller that featured three touchdowns in the last two minutes.

“And yet," Johnson said, "we have found a way to win.”

The Bears (5-3) could at least exhale a day after their wild victory.

They're in a far better place in Johnson's first season than they were this time last year, when they were in a 10-game freefall that cost former coach Matt Eberflus his job.

It hasn't been the smoothest ride for Chicago. The Bears blew an 11-point lead in the opener against Minnesota and got blown out at Detroit the following week before winning four in a row and matching their best streak since 2018.

Williams' progress in his second season hasn't happened in a straight line. The former No. 1 draft pick still has a tendency to lock into targets and spend too much time scrambling, but he has also come up big late in close games. His 58-yard touchdown to Colston Loveland with 17 seconds remaining Sunday capped a performance like no other.

Williams not only threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns while running for 53 yards, he became the first quarterback in in nearly 82 years with multiple receptions in a game. He caught two passes for 22 yards and a TD.

“It just opens up the offense, just gives the defense another element that they have to account for as they game plan throughout the week," receiver Olamide Zaccheaus said. "You know, him being able to do that, extend drives, especially late in the game is huge for us and we’ve got to continue to build on that.”

The Bears had three more takeaways against Cincinnati to bring their league-leading total to 19. Chicago had 15 in a four-game win streak before coming away with none in a loss at Baltimore in Week 8.

If the Bears weren't already looking for help in the pass rush before Tuesday's deadline, they might be now.

Johnson said DE Dayo Odeyingbo suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury against Cincinnati, another blow for a team struggling to take down the quarterback. Signed last March to a three-year deal with $32 million guaranteed, he had one sack after recording 16 1/2 over his first four seasons with Indianapolis.

Odeyingbo's injury came on the same day DE Austin Booker made an impressive season debut. Booker had a strip sack against Joe Flacco when he bull-rushed his blocker, after missing the first seven games because of a knee injury.

The Bears are tied for 20th in the NFL with 17 sacks, and only three players have more than one, with Montez Sweat leading the team with four.

WR Rome Odunze. Though the second-year pro went from matching a career high with seven receptions for 114 yards at Baltimore to failing to catch a pass for the first time in his career, he has emerged as Williams' favorite option. The former Washington star leads the team in yards receiving (473), touchdown catches (five) and targets (59). His 31 receptions are tied with Zaccheaus for first on the Bears.

LT Braxton Jones. The 2022 fifth-round draft pick lost his starting job and then got placed on injured reserve. It has been a rough stretch. Jones has started 44 games in four seasons for Chicago, including the first four this year. He was lifted during a Week 4 win at Las Vegas and was placed on IR with a knee injury before the Baltimore game.

TE Cole Kmet was in the concussion protocol after getting hurt in Sunday's game.

71 — Penalties have been a big issue, with the Bears third in the league with 71 for 576 yards. Left tackle Theo Benedet's four false starts are tied for the most by an NFL offensive lineman.

The Bears host the New York Giants — losers of three straight and last in the NFC East — on Sunday before the schedule takes a tougher turn. They visit Minnesota in Week 11 and then play three straight against current division leaders, with a home game against Pittsburgh followed by trips to defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia and to Green Bay.

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