CHICAGO — Quarterback Caleb Williams flipped a game ball to Ben Johnson amid the celebration inside the home team locker room at Soldier Field after a dominant 34-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys marked the first victory for the new Bears coach.
Moments later, Johnson was mobbed by players as they relished the statement victory. The Bears throttled the Cowboys in Matt Eberflus’ return to Chicago after the Bears fired him as coach last November. Chicago had not won a game at home since beating Carolina on Oct. 6, 2024, and snapped its two-game skid after starting the season with back-to-back division losses to Minnesota and Detroit.
Johnson’s emotions ran high as he broke down the huddle, but they wouldn’t stay that way for long.
“It will be fun for tonight, and we’re on to the next one,” Johnson said. “We’re behind the 8-ball here. We’re 1-2, and we’ve got to get back to .500 here.”
Johnson unleashed a passing attack that allowed Williams to put together arguably the best game of his career. Williams threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns, which tied a career high. He set personal bests with a 142.6 passer rating while reaching 10.8 yards per attempt.
After taking a league-high 68 sacks as a rookie and six sacks in his first two games this season, Williams walked away from Week 3 without being sacked for the first time in his NFL career.
“He played an outstanding game,” wide receiver DJ Moore said. “I think four different people scored. I mean, you can’t ask [for] much more.”
By halftime, Williams had thrown for 239 yards, the most in any half of his young career. He threw touchdown passes to Moore, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III and Cole Kmet, and didn’t turn the ball over.
While securing the Bears’ first win of the season, Williams also won free hot dogs for the city of Chicago. On Friday, “The Wieners Circle” posted on social media that it would give free hot dogs Tuesday if Williams threw four touchdowns against the Cowboys.
Williams said he has not been to the establishment on Chicago’s north side but heard about the promotion going around on X.
“Congrats, everybody, you got free hot dogs,” Williams said while laughing.
The Bears began their scoring surge on their second drive of the game after cornerback Tyrique Stevenson ripped the ball from Cowboys running back Javonte Williams and recovered the fumble in one motion. Chicago got the ball back at its 24-yard line and scored five plays later.
Williams helped the Bears build a 10-point halftime lead after leading a successful two-minute drive that ended with him finding Kmet for a 10-yard touchdown, the first of two TD passes Williams made under duress (a career high).
After going three-and-out on both of their opening drives of the second half against Minnesota and Detroit, Chicago reversed course by staying on the field for 9:54. The Bears ran 19 plays, including 11 straight runs, which spanned 76 yards and was capped when Williams connected with Moore on fourth down.
It was the Bears’ longest touchdown drive this century by time and number of plays.
“I’m not kidding, I think I blacked out after Play [No.] 8,” Kmet said. “In camp, we always did that long-drive drill [in] practice where we’d go 12 to 15 plays. That one was 19. But those are the type of things that you prep for that type of stuff in season. A little hot, a little muggy out there, so we kind of wore them down there at the end. To take the ball up for that whole third quarter was really good by us, and that’s something that we should be able to carry going forward.”
After blowing an 11-point lead to the Vikings in a Week 1 loss and losing by 31 points to Detroit last Sunday, Williams said that Chicago’s win “builds confidence” in the team. The Bears’ 31 points snapped a streak of 13 consecutive games scoring fewer than 30 points, and the defense came away with four turnovers.
“I think we have so many guys that care,” Williams said. “It’s something that Coach Johnson and I talk about. We have so many guys that care about us as teammates but also just us as winning. I know we started off 0-2, but the belief was still there, the trust was still there that I talked about. So, it’s just us being able to go out there and do it and execute it. That’s always what it comes down to.”
Sunday’s win comes four days after Johnson called out Bears players for failing to have “championship-caliber” practice habits. That same day, leaders on the defense called a players-only meeting to address concerns after allowing 52 points to the Lions.
It was a chance for defensive players to voice concerns and get “whatever they had to say off their chest,” according to safety Jaquan Brisker, who called the meeting along with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.
“We were talking about being the greatest, the best defense in Bears history, in the league — top 5. You can’t give up 50 points,” Brisker said. “So, it’s just a mentality, and we just had to make sure we were on one line and get everything off of our chest and obviously be on the same page, and we did that today.”
Information from ESPN Research was used in this report.
