2024 NFL Season, Week 6: What We Learned from Sunday's games

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• RE-WATCH: Jaguars-Bears on NFL+

Jeremy Bergman's takeaways:

1. Caleb making his own OROY case. Caleb Williams' second national-window game went much better than his first. Four weeks removed from an "SNF" stinker in Houston, Williams lit up London with one of the most special performances in Bears QB history. The No. 1 overall pick continued his hot run of play through the air and on the ground, throwing four touchdowns to Keenan Allen and part-time long snapper Cole Kmet (two apiece) in leading Chicago to its third straight win. Williams played headstrong in and out of structure, showing confidence on tight-window throws and creativity out of the pocket. In addition to his 226 passing yards, Williams moved the chains with 56 yards on four scrambles, displaying a veteran's knack for knowing when to seek and avoid contact. He proved resilient, too, bouncing back from an awful interception with an 85-yard TD drive. Bears fans have not seen this before -- through six weeks, Williams already has the most TD passes of any Chicago rookie QB (9, tied with Jim McMahon) -- but they better get used to it. Williams is for real and making a run at the leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year -- and the Bears' next opponent in Week 8 -- Commanders QB Jayden Daniels.
2. Jags left in limbo in London. Mere hours after Jacksonville owner Shad Khan gave his latest vote of confidence to Doug Pederson and Co., they betrayed it with another listless letdown. Look at the box score, and you might be encouraged by the Jags' offensive performance; Evan Engram and Gabe Davis returned to the fold with a vengeance, and Trevor Lawrence was relatively efficient. But the tape tells a different story. Jacksonville continues to blow opportunities -- it started Sunday with an opening-possession FG after an eight-minute march and continued with drive-killing drops and turnovers. The run game, paced in Week 5 by Tank Bigsby, was D.O.A. away from Duval and lost Travis Etienne midway to a hamstring injury. The pass rush that broke out with Travon Walker last week was nowhere to be found against the elusive Williams, letting the Bears run free and extend drives. Worst of all, the Jaguars will have to sort through their fifth loss of the year away from home; Jacksonville is staying in London for another week ahead of its clash with New England at Wembley Stadium. That likely means no major personnel changes for at least another game. But best believe, if the Jags fall to one of the AFC's worst in Week 7, heads will roll in England.
3. Another beatdown for Bears defense. A slow start gave way to another solid showing from these modern Monsters of the Midway. Chicago entered Week 6 averaging 17.0 PPG allowed, its best mark since its Super Bowl season in 2006. After holding Jacksonville to a mere 16 overseas, the Bears proved again that they are to be feared by upcoming offenses. Disregard the state of their opponents for a moment -- Chicago's four wins are against teams with a combined 4-16 record. After years of wallowing in mediocrity, the Bears are laying waste to weaker sides, with sacks (five players with at least 0.5 vs. Jacksonville), passes defensed (six players with at least one) and takeaways playing a big factor. Chicago added two turnovers on Sunday, the most critical a T.J. Edwards forced fumble of Engram on the very first play of the second half. The punch-out immediately nullified a long completion and led directly to a TD that put Chicago up by 18. The Bears boast 13 takeaways on the season, with only the division rival Packers (14) and Vikings (13) in their ballpark. The NFC North is no joke this season, and after back-to-back laughers, the Bears defense has Chicago right in the thick of it.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Jaguars-Bears (via NFL Pro): Jaylon Johnson allowed just one reception for 5 yards on two targets across 38 coverage snaps against the Jags. The Bears CB has allowed fewer than half of his targets to be completed this season, translating into a league-leading 20.8 passer rating allowed in coverage (min. 15 targets).

NFL Research: Caleb Williams is the first player in NFL history with at least three passing touchdowns and 50 rushing yards in an international game.

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