The stage seemed set for quarterback Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears offense on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.

Sunday felt like the day when things would finally click for the unit when the team needed it the most. The Baltimore Ravens were reeling at 1-5 without star quarterback Lamar Jackson. Meanwhile, the Bears’ secondary was out three starters and needed a boost after carrying the load during Chicago’s four-game winning streak.

But that boost never came Sunday. When the lights came on, the same old mishaps reappeared, stopping the offense from meeting the moment in a 30-16 loss.

“Today was one of those games where you gotta come out and try and win this game,” Williams said after at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. “We didn’t execute the plays we needed to at the right moments and they did.”

It didn’t take long to see there wouldn’t be an offensive epiphany Sunday.

The Bears moved the ball down the field on their opening two possessions. Williams threw the ball well on play action and the Bears continued running the ball effectively after back-to-back season-high rushing performances.

But the red zone inefficiencies reappeared as they had over the past few weeks.

Chicago drove the ball down to the Baltimore 3-yard line on its opening possession and settled for a field goal because of a false start and a sack. The unit got down to the Ravens 22 before two incompletions forced it to settle for another field goal.

The Bears moved the ball 125 yards down the field in the first quarter compared to the Ravens’ eight. But Chicago held a 6-0 lead after the first.

“We could’ve been up 14 in those first two drives... that would’ve created a bunch of momentum for us,” Williams said. “That’s how it’s been a good amount of the year, especially these past two games, being in the red zone a bunch and not necessarily being able to punch it in.”

Instead, that created momentum for the Ravens. Backup quarterback Tyler Huntley led Baltimore to 16 consecutive points in the second and third quarters while Williams and the Bears got in their own way when they came close to gaining any momentum.

Chicago failed to execute on a two-minute drill at the end of the first half when kicker Cairo Santos missed a 58-yard field goal as time expired. Santos was forced to run onto the field and kick quickly on fourth down without a timeout. Williams had been called for an intentional grounding earlier in the drive, which burned a timeout, and failed to run out of bounds on a run to stop the clock.

When the Bears made it a three-point game with a chance to drive down the field to tie it early in the fourth quarter, Williams threw an interception from his own 4. Baltimore scored a few plays later.

Even when the Bears chased 14 points late and got to the Ravens’ 3 with a fresh set of downs, the Bears failed to get a touchdown with a failed quarterback sneak and a missed pass to a wide-open DJ Moore in the end zone.

“I think definitely the majority is shooting ourselves in the foot penalties, misalignments, misexecution on a play,” said wide receiver Rome Odunze, who finished with 114 receiving yards. “I don’t think there’s ever been an instance where we’ve not had a penalty, executed the play properly, where we haven’t scored touchdowns in the red zone. So we got to get back to that.”

The offense had found ways to make those plays during the Bears’ four-game winning streak despite all the mishaps. Williams stepped up with a big four-touchdown performance against the Dallas Cowboys before he led the team to back-to-back game-winning drives on the Bears’ final possession against the Las Vegas Raiders and the Washington Commanders.

“Today was one of those games where you gotta come out and try and win this game. We didn’t execute the plays we needed to at the right moments and they did.”

—  Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears quarterback

But the defense had kept the Bears in those games to give the offense a chance to win. Chicago’s defense created at least three turnovers in each of the last four games. With a depleted secondary Sunday, the unit forced none for the first time since Week 2 against the Detroit Lions.

“They were hungry, they were determined,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said. “Truth be told, I expected a little bit more out of our squad to counter that up. So we fell short.”

Williams and other Bears didn’t think solving the issues would be difficult. To them, it comes down to executing in those key moments and not forcing mistakes.

But that’s been a common refrain for the offense throughout training camp and even a 4-2 start to the season. They’ll need to find the answers this week to finally meet the moment.

“We’ve got to find a way to stop the bleeding when you start bleeding,” Williams said. “I think I can do a better job of that, helping out and leading these guys.”