The return of Caleb Williams can't come fast enough.

Williams appeared on the verge of a return for Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons during pregame warmups Sunday at Lambeau Field, and after the Bears went down early, then couldn't rally against the Green Bay Packers in their 31-7 loss, the need to get him back became entirely apparent.

The Packers realized something other Bears opponents haven't, and that's the way the Bears are winning is with ball control while they have had to use backup quarterbacks. So Packers coach Matt LaFleur wanted to control the ball instead of attacking. His problem is he has no running game and he found a way to do it with a short passing game enough early to let the Packers build a 14-0 lead. Game, set and match.

The Packers did such a good job of keeping the ball away from the Bears in the first quarter without a running game that they thought they'd try another maneuver in the second half. They left the bag with the game balls in the locker room at halftime. It only worked for a few seconds, but no need to worry. They only had Tyson Bagent to overcome.

Bagent is not better than some of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL as the Bears have maintained. He's not even better than some of the best backups. His floaty throw over the middle got picked off by Xavier McKinney in the first quarter after coaches and Bagent himself had warned all week about the Packers safeties.

That led to the 14-0 deficit and for all intents and purposes the game had ended. He threw another interception later in much the same manner and finished 12-of-21 for only 87 yards.

Once the Packers' had the lead, they appropriately trashed their ball-control tactics and went deep after the Bears' rookie defensive backs, Dillon Thieneman and Malik Muhammad. They were even able to victimize veteran Jaylon Johnson a few times.

With the comeback king inactive, Bagent was only capable of handing off in a running attack suddenly tremendously ineffective with Kyle Monangai out injured. Bagent is 0-3 in road starts for his career and seven of his nine interceptions came in road games.

Backup quarterbacks can only do so much, whether it's Bagent or 38-year-old Case Keenum, who played the fourth quarter and led three drives ending in turnovers. Keenum was 11 of 19 for 108 yards with an interception.

If you want to grate some cheese at Soldier Field or Lambeau, it has to be with Williams playing.

Fortunately for the Bears, Williams' return appears close at hand. It will need to be because the Falcons play ball control very well and they do it with an actual running game, not a passing game.

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