Bears defensive end Jacob Martin sacks New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye during Sunday's game at Soldier Field in Chicago. Mark Busch/Shaw Local News Network
Caleb Williams saw his center, Coleman Shelton, and he had to stop. The Bears quarterback thanked Shelton for his efforts. Further down the line in the team locker room, right guard Ryan Bates stood at his locker. Williams stopped and thanked him too.
Minutes after Sunday's devastating 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots ended, Williams made sure to thank the teammates tasked with protecting him. It could've been easy for a quarterback to ignore his linemen after this one. The Patriots sacked Williams nine times.
But Williams didn't do that. The No. 1 overall draft pick thanked the big fellas up front, and he pinned the blame for some of the miscues on himself.
Anybody who watched the game knows it wasn't all on the quarterback. The Bears' offense reached a new level of ineptitude. For the second consecutive game, they didn't score a touchdown. They've gone 23 offensive possessions without finding the end zone.
On Sunday, they were forced to play without their starting offensive tackles, Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright, who both missed the game due to knee injuries. Even so, they were going against a Patriots' defense that had 16 total sacks in nine games -- fewer than two per game -- and the Bears still gave up nine. The Bears have allowed 15 sacks over the past two games and 18 over this current three-game losing streak.
None of this team's playmakers proved to be a difference maker. DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Cole Kmet and Rome Odunze all had quiet afternoons.
This was a total team effort, and this time that phrase is not meant as a good thing. Perhaps it's time somebody answers for that.
Asked about the effort, head coach Matt Eberflus indicated he will take a look in the mirror.
"Really just looking inward at myself, first," Eberflus said. "And that's what I asked the players and the team, and the coaches. We've got to take a good, hard look at everything that we're doing and play good, complementary football."
Plenty of fans want this head coach gone after Sunday's effort. His team is 14-29 since he became the head coach. As he said himself, this effort and the effort of the past three weeks reflects on him. That's the nature of the job.
For what it's worth, Williams remains fully behind Eberflus.
"Am I confident in my head coach? Yes, I'm confident in my head coach," Williams said. "They brought me here for a reason. They brought all of us here for a reason. As players, when we're in the locker room, we know how good we are. We know how good we can be. Right now, we're not executing. We're not hitting on all cylinders. We have all the confidence in each other."
The Bears have never fired a head coach in the middle of a season. But this is only year two with new team president and CEO Kevin Warren. That certainly raises the possibility things could be different this time.
It's hard to argue with the fans who want some sort of change this week. The issues clearly stem from one side of the football. The Bears can't score touchdowns. The defense was good enough and the kicking game was mostly fine.
Asked about the possibility of firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, Eberflus indicated -- for the first time -- that the idea is not entirely off the table.
"We'll look at everything," Eberflus said. "It's looking at everything from the top to the bottom and making sure that we're finding the answers to move the ball on the field, play better as a football team on offense, defense and special teams."
General manager Ryan Poles stuck with Eberflus in January and let Eberflus make his hand-picked choice for offensive coordinator. With a pivotal year on the horizon for a rookie quarterback, Eberflus chose Waldron.
The results are beginning to speak for themselves. If the Bears were to consider firing Waldron, passing game coordinator Thomas Brown would be the obvious choice for the interim role. Brown served as offensive coordinator in Carolina last season.
Asked about the possibility, Williams wouldn't throw Waldron under the bus, but he said he'd be ready for any changes that might come with the offense.
"They're not going to reinvent the wheel, in a sense," Williams said. "We're midseason and it's not a decision for me. I have to do what coach says. I have to deal with whatever decision (Eberflus) makes and I have to be fine with it. Will I be able to adapt? Yes, I will."