It ended up not being Caleb Williams' night against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football, but the Chicago Bears quarterback might have unwittingly laid the groundwork for letting others power past the Niners in the playoffs.
Like the Indianapolis Colts' Philip Rivers and others before him this season, Williams managed to find his way through San Francisco's defense, to the tune of 330 yards and two touchdowns. And in doing so, Chicago's signal-caller exposed the easiest ways to beat the 49ers in their present state on defense.
Attack early, and attack often.
Perhaps due to the depleted defensive backfield (due to the absence of cornerback Renardo Green, whose availability for the Seattle Seahawks game in Week 18 could be massive), Williams sought big plays early, and largely succeeded with two long touchdown passes to wide receiver Luther Burden and tight end Colston Loveland being the main highlights. Essentially, the quarterback targeted the weakest links on the 49ers defense and looked to expose them early.
The second of those big plays also highlighted another easy way to unsettle the Niners defense: attack the middle of the field. While linebacker Tatum Bethune is a noted favourite of mine, he's not the greatest athlete and is certainly no Fred Warner in coverage, while the lack of depth at the other linebacker spots allows the likes of Luke Gifford to be targeted by opposing passers, which is definitely not a situation San Francisco wants to find itself in too often.
Perhaps because of these two reasons, Williams was also able to find consistent success on long downs, with the Niners' completely lacking a pass rush and poor defensive back play, particularly at the safety spot, being the vast majority of the culprit.
In fact, it was a surprise when Bears head coach Ben Johnson somewhat "called off the dogs" at times in the second half, as I pointed out during the game:
I'm a little surprised Ben Johnson didn't go aggressive there, the #49ers can't cover a damn thing. 3rd and 11 might actually be worse for us than 4th and 1.
— John Porter (@jporterdoes) December 29, 2025
If I was Ben Johnson I'd have gone for the TD there. The #49ers haven't proven they can cover all day, but they have proven they can score touchdowns on long drives...
— John Porter (@jporterdoes) December 29, 2025
The latter proved to be particularly damning, as despite the 49ers reeling after some huge plays and a Bethune personal-foul penalty, Johnson elected against punching the ball into the end zone on 4th-and-goal, instead taking a field goal to take their final 38-35 lead, which they'd fail to hang onto and never regain.
That felt like a potential blink in an explosive shootout, and so it turned out to be. But that didn't change what Williams and Co. found on Sunday night.
There will be bigger (but not necessarily better) challenges ahead for the 49ers. That'll likely see San Francisco put under some strain in those same areas; the shots to make big plays early and often, and the irritating constant drip of completions by those who can successfully throw over the middle.
With a potential playoff battery of quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Matthew Stafford, Jalen Hurts, Bryce Young, Baker Mayfield, Williams again and Jordan Love, among others, getting ready to face this defense, it'll be on coordinator Robert Saleh to try and find the answers.
Given the youth and inexperience of the side, it's possible tSaleh might be able to find just enough growth to make it work. He certainly did eventually on Sunday night, calling a perplexing 2-9 rusher-to-coverage split on the game-deciding play. That deceived Williams and forced the vital incompletion.
Let's hope we see more of that as the quarterback opposite improves.
Alternatively, hope the likes of Green and Upton Stout return quickly to add some bite in the secondary, while biggest of all, pray Warner is indeed back from his ankle injury for the majority of the playoffs.