Chicago Bears bold predictions for Week 4 vs. Rams

1. Caleb Williams puts up 300 yards against the Rams’ defense

After slowly but surely finding his footing as an NFL passer, picking up 93 yards in Week 1 against the Tenessee Titans and 174 yards against the Houston Texans in Week 2, Williams blew up in Week 3, completing 33 of his 52 passing attempts for 363 yards and two touchdowns. Granted, the Bears still lost in Week 3 to the Indianapolis Colts, Williams was sacked four times, and he threw two interceptions for the second-straight week to go with his second fumble of the year, but after failing to clear 100 yards in Week 1, his performance was still somewhat encouraging.

And in Week 4, the Bears have another good opponent lined up to make things easier for Williams’ transition into the NFL, as the Rams have simply been a bad passing defense team so far this year.

Lining up a secondary that should theoretically be better than last season but hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, with Tre’Davious White no longer playing like an All-Pro, and John Johnson III on IR alongside Darious Williams, Tre Tomlinson, and Derion Kendrick, the Rams have allowed 746 passing yards on the season so far, which ranks 29th in the NFL ahead of just three other teams. They’ve also allowed seven passing touchdowns, the 30th-best mark in the NFL, and have surrendered a net yards per average of nine yards per pass, which is the worst mark in the entire league.

Throw that all together, and the Bears’ passing offense, which ranks 25th in the NFL, might just come alive once more in Week 4, allowing Williams to get more comfortable in Shane Waldron’s offense and learn the ropes on the opposite side of the field from one of his mentors, Matthew Stafford.

2. The Bears finally run for over 100 yards in a game

As crazy as it might sound, neither the Bears nor the Rams have recorded 100 rushing yards in a game so far this season, with the former topping out at 84 while the latter got to 98 in Week 3 but were unfortunately held just short of triple digits.

Now granted, some of that might come down to how each team’s season has shaken out thus far, with both teams routinely forced to throw the ball in ultimately losing efforts while dealing with brutal turnovers, injuries, and other inconsistencies, but it also seems like neither Sean McVay nor Matt Eberflus are all that into establishing strong efforts on the ground, even if it would theoretically help both teams out in the long-term.

Is Week 4 where someone breaks out, rips off a 64-yard touchdown, and effectively forces their team to at least look as if they care about playing some old-school ground-and-pound football? Maybe so, especially the Bears, as they are facing off against a Rams defense that has allowed 531 rushing yards so far this season, a mark only one team has surpassed so far this season through three weeks.

After recording 100-yard rushing games twice for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023, including a pretty remarkable Week 2 where he gashed the Minnesota Vikings for 175 yards on 28 attempts, D’andre Swift has been down-right brutal for the Bears through three games, averaging just 22.7 yards per game on a little over 12 carries.

Things have gotten so dire that Williams actually sits just one yard shy of Swift’s total through three weeks on 26 fewer carries, which would be kind of funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

While passing yards will be easily attainable for the Bears in Week 4, which might be their desired outcome overall, considering Williams’ development, they would be wise to try to commit to the rushing game, too, as Chicago is quite possibly the worst rushing team in the NFL and can’t win consistently with that strategy.

3. The Bears can’t get Williams an LA win in Week 4

So, if the Rams have a very bad passing defense and an even worse rushing defense, the Bears have a pretty good chance to secure a win in Week 4, right?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but there’s another factor that comes into play that hasn’t been addressed but is worth pondering: are the Bears cursed? They win a game where Williams throws for less than 100 yards but lose one when he throws for 300? They can’t run the ball very effectively at all despite investing in the position? Their defense, Eberflus’ specialty, is below average pretty much across the board, even with quality players like Jaylon Johnson, Montez Sweat, T.J. Edwards, and Tremaine Edmunds all over the field? If there was ever a game where Stafford throws for 350 yards, and Kyren Williams has his first 100-yard game of the season, it would be this one, and Chicago would be forced to go back to the drawing board as a result down 1-3 on the year.