LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Caleb Williams stressed the importance of being on the same page with his wide receivers after DJ Moore faced criticism for his route-running effort on the play that resulted in a game-changing interception during the Chicago Bears‘ 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Following the game, Williams labeled the interception as a “miscommunication” between him and Moore. Williams said he had not spoken to Moore about the play as of late Monday morning but feels a conversation needs to be had with Moore and all of Chicago’s receivers.
“Small things like that that show up in those moments that you may not have talked about, being on the same page, maybe you talked about it in Week 1 or Week 6 and it shows up in [Week 20],” Williams said. “You know, it’s something to learn from for myself, a learning experience, it’s something for us to learn from as an offense and as a team. We’ll go do that at some time.”
Moore was not present in the locker room postgame nor during Monday’s locker cleanout.
The Bears faced second-and-8 from the Rams’ 48-yard line on their lone possession in overtime after Los Angeles went three-and-out to start the extra period. With time to throw from a clean pocket, Williams took a shot downfield on a pass that would have put the Bears into field goal range. But instead of connecting with Moore, Williams’ throw was intercepted when Rams safety Kam Curl cut in front of the wide receiver.
Los Angeles won the game and advanced to the NFC Championship Game after kicking a 42-yard field goal on its next possession.
Against the Rams, Moore had a team-high five catches for 52 yards and a touchdown. The 28-year-old receiver has received criticism for appearing to jog on his route and drift up field instead of sharply running across the field after starting off the play out wide on the opposite side from where Williams targeted him.
“Like I said, it was just a miscommunication,” Williams said. “Trying to just flatten him off on the safety. Since the other safety was down, I felt like we had enough space over there so I tried to flatten him off. It was just a miscommunication. His route is to go deep and attack that angle, which he did. We thought we were going to go under the safety at that point. It didn’t happen that way.”
As the Bears began their offseason Monday, fellow wide receiver Rome Odunze confirmed he will not need surgery to repair the foot injury that limited him throughout his second season. Odunze was limited to 12 games due to injury, which he says will heal with rest.
“It was rough, man,” Odunze said of playing through injury. “It was rough. … We play through injuries. It’s part of the game. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses about the foot, but something I was dealing with.”
The former No. 9 pick expressed frustration over how his second season played out after exiting training camp as Williams’ top target. Odunze finished third on the Bears in receiving yards (661), fourth in receptions (44) and was tied for the team-lead with six receiving touchdowns.
