North London was orange (and a bit blue) as the Chicago Bears rekindled their relationship with British fans and treated a partisan crowd to a blowout victory against a limp Jacksonville Jaguars side for good measure.
In the battle of two No 1 overall draft picks, the Bears’ rookie quarterback Caleb Williams had the edge over his opposite number, Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars’ first pick in 2021. Williams threw four touchdown passes and rushed for 58 yards, the decisive contribution in the game. But his performance passed the entertainment test too, the 22‑year‑old’s adaptability and the pinpoint power of his arm showing the 60,000 crowd why he has been marked out as a prospect of some talent.
For Lawrence there were two touchdown passes and 234 passing yards. With many of his 23 completed passes unambitious, the Tennessee native with the shoulder-length hair looked very much a franchise player, but of a franchise that is flailing and dipping dangerously low on confidence. Defeat takes the Jaguars to 1-5, and keeps them rock bottom of AFC South.
The Jaguars remain committed to playing in London each year, though talk of a London franchise has died down. Meanwhile, the Bears were playing their first fixture in the UK in five years. Yet the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium felt a bit like Soldier Field on the day, such was the preponderance of Bears support. With the programme running a lengthy feature on William “the Refrigerator” Perry and his spell at London Monarchs, perhaps some of the affiliation was sentimental. There was certainly a substantial travelling contingent, too. But either way, the support was ubiquitous, gaudy and noisy. As for Jaguars fandom, there was little if any. The quirks of international expansion.
The Jaguars had arrived late in London, their travel delayed by the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Milton. The Bears, meanwhile, had been holed up in Hertfordshire for a week. There is debate as to the best way for an NFL team to deal with the schlep to London, but the Bears head coach, Matt Eberflus, said the week in the UK had allowed the team to effectively have a mid-season training camp. It showed on the field, with a number of complex plays coming off on the day as Williams continued to build relationships with his new teammates.
The key moments came before half-time, after Williams blotted his copybook with a sloppy interception. It felt like a play that could send the game in a different direction and Williams admitted it had infuriated him. But the Bears defence proved its worth, as it so often does, springing back immediately to recover possession, and the ball was driven back down the field where the game-breaking third touchdown was scored.
It was Williams who clinched the play with a rocket of a 25‑yard pass down the seam, into the arms of Keenan Allen, the man he calls his “older brother”. It was the wide receiver’s first touchdown for the Bears and he celebrated by holding a tea party in with his teammates in the end zone, pinky out as they supped.
“We feel we took a step in the right direction today,” Eberflus said of Williams’s performance and engagement with his teammates. “You want progress to be linear but it’s not always that way. But his ability to learn, to want to get better, is what sets him apart. He knows this year is a big year for him, to learn the game.
“He’s always been good enough in terms of talent but he’s learning our game and learning our skill sets. Our guys have wide skill sets, we have to utilise that and he’s doing a good job.”
