Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears encounter dead ends within the red zone

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The red zone is taking a heavy toll on the Chicago Bears' offense and quarterback Caleb Williams in Ben Johnson’s first season as coach.

It’s not the only issue facing the Bears, but it has Johnson searching for answers after watching his team fail to score touchdowns on two of three trips inside the 20-yard line in a 30-16 loss Sunday at Baltimore.

“We’re moving the ball. We’re not scoring points as often as we’d like to,” Johnson said Monday.

The Bears (4-3) are settling for three points too often. They’ve kicked 15 field goals in the last four games.

“Our red-zone percentage is down,” Johnson said. “We need to score more touchdowns when we get down there and we had two more three-and-outs here this week that ... if we get the first first down we’re in good shape.”

The Bears have converted only five of 16 red-zone trips into touchdowns through the last four games. They managed to win the first three in that stretch, but Sunday’s two missed chances proved to be a problem later in a game that was close until the middle of the fourth quarter.

Through Sunday’s games, the Bears ranked 26th in the league in touchdown percentage within the red zone at 47.8%.

“I think we go in each week with the plan to attack the defenses that we’re anticipating, that we’re seeing on tape there,” Johnson said. “You know, we put a lot of onus on being able to run the ball down there. I thought we could have done a little bit better inside the 10.

“This week we had some negative plays that certainly didn’t help the cause. But I felt good about the plan that we put into place. We’ve just got to focus on our execution and our details.”

After they settled for field goals on their first two drives, the Bears went scoreless on the next three possessions, thanks to penalties and inconsistent passing.

“When you play ugly football like that, it’s a lot more difficult to win the ballgame,” Johnson said. “We’re on a mission here to get this all cleaned up.”

Pass blocking. The Bears gave up one sack Sunday and the team has allowed 12 on the year. Only eight teams had allowed fewer going into Monday night. It’s quite a drop from last year, when Williams was sacked a league-high 68 times.

The Bears allowed at least 50 sacks each season from 2021-24.

Sloppy play. The Bears had 11 more penalties Sunday, their third game with a double-digit total and the seventh time in seven games they had more penalties for more yards than their opponent.

Wide receiver Rome Odunze matched his career high with seven receptions Sunday while gaining 114 yards. It was his fourth 100-yard game.

The Bears have lost all four of those games.

Williams continues to struggle, even though his accuracy improved a bit over the previous few games. He threw a key interception that sealed the Bears' fate in the fourth quarter at his own 18-yard line on a ball intended for Odunze. It appeared running back Kyle Monangai was wide open a short distance from the first-down marker on the play, and Johnson said Williams should have thrown the checkdown.

Second-round draft pick Shemar Turner suffered a torn ACL against the Ravens, and the defensive end/tackle will go on season-ending injured reserve.

Defensive end Dominic Robinson will be out a few weeks with an ankle injury, and Johnson said defensive end Austin Booker will be activated from injured reserve to the 53-man roster. Booker suffered a knee injury during the preseason.

Wide receiver Luther Burden III is in the concussion protocol.

0 — The Bears failed to record a takeaway Sunday after forcing at least three turnovers in four straight games. It was only their second game without a takeaway this season.

The Bears visit Cincinnati (3-5) on Sunday.

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