By The Chicago Bears kicked off Week 6’s Sunday action by moving to 4-2 as they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 35-16 in London, England.
2024 first overall draft pick Caleb Williams had arguably the best game of his young career, completing 23 of his 29 pass attempts and throwing for 226 yards and four touchdowns.
He also picked up 56 yards on the ground. A second quarter interception was the only blemish on what was a stellar performance from the quarterback.
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence – the No. 1 pick in 2021 – went 23 for 35 through the air for 234 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception, while rushing for 17 yards.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a checkerboard of NFL jerseys, with fans decked out in the colors of various teams, as has become typical of games in Europe.
The matchup was officially listed as a Bears home game, and it certainly had the atmosphere of one. The crowd was in favor of Chicago for much of the game, with the Jacksonville players even making their entrance to some boos from fans.
The Bears were not able to give the crowd much to cheer about on the game’s opening possession, going three and out and punting to the Jaguars. After a long drive that lasted over eight minutes, Jacksonville was unable to find the end zone and opened the scoring with a 30-yard field goal from Cam Little.
Williams and the Chicago offense struggled mightily to start the game, only mustering seven yards of offense in the first quarter. It took until the second quarter for the offense to finally click into gear – and it did it in style.
A couple of pump fakes and a 360-degree turn from Williams froze the Jags defense and he found tight end Cole Kmet over the middle, who broke two tackles for the touchdown.
Things appeared to immediately go from bad to worse for Jacksonville when Travis Etienne was adjudged to have fumbled the ball, but the referees overturned the call after review.
The Jaguars got the break they needed when a poor, loopy pass from Williams was intercepted by Andre Cisco but were unable to make the turnover count and were forced to punt.
Williams made plays with his legs on the following drive, twice breaking out of the pocket to pick up yards on the ground and setting up the Bears up at the Jags’ five-yard line before connecting with Kmet again for a touchdown.
Facing a 14-3 deficit to begin the second half and facing the same offensive struggles that have plagued the squad all season, Jacksonville needed something to go its way. Unfortunately for Lawrence and co., the quarter couldn’t have started much worse.
Jags tight end Evan Engram fumbled the ball on the team’s first play of the half, with Bears safety Elijah Hicks making the recovery and taking it over midfield.
Chicago scored again on the resulting drive, as Williams found wide receiver Keenan Allen in the end zone for his third touchdown pass of the day, sparking a ‘tea party’ celebration from the offense.
The Jaguars eventually scored their first touchdown of the day just over halfway through the quarter – Lawrence connected with Gabe Davis on a 21-yard strike as his team sought a way back into the game.
However, the defense failed to stem the flow of a rolling Bears unit. A series of defensive penalties helped Chicago move the chains with the drive culminating in another Williams TD pass to Allen to start the fourth quarter.
Things then took another turn for the worse for Jacksonville as Lawrence was picked off by Josh Blackwell on his team’s first possession of the final period.
Some trickery from Williams and an explosive run from receiver DJ Moore put Chicago right at the goal line, with running back D’Andre Swift bursting through to continue the scoring frenzy.
The Jags scored again via another Lawrence to Davis touchdown pass but were unable to make any further inroads into the Bears lead.
Chicago enters its bye week with a satisfying win, while Jacksonville drops to 1-5 after the defeat. The team will remain in the English capital as it takes on the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium on Week 7 Sunday.
