Caleb Williams and the Bears have another big opportunity after dominating the Panthers

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Caleb Williams and the Bears have another big opportunity after dominating the Panthers

2024-10-08 07:43 Last Updated At：07:51

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears did exactly what they wanted against one of the worst teams in the NFL.

They have another big opportunity this week.

The Bears again meet a team near the bottom of the league when they face Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars in London after dominating the lowly Carolina Panthers 36-10 on Sunday.

“We have Jacksonville and they present issues like every other team does and we've got to deal with those issues and then we have to focus on our execution,” coach Matt Eberflus said on Monday.

The Bears' execution against Carolina was pretty good all around.

Chicago (3-2) set season highs in scoring and yards (424) and turned three takeaways into 16 points. It added up to the Bears' second straight win after back-to-back losses and their most lopsided victory since a 29-3 romp over the New York Giants in Week 17 of the 2021 season.

Williams delivered his best performance to date.

The No. 1 overall draft pick completed 20 of 29 passes for 304 yards with two touchdowns to DJ Moore and zero interceptions. His 126.2 passer rating was the best by a Bears rookie since the AFL-NFL merger. The previous high was Jim McMahon's 121.1 against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 26, 1982, was the previous high.

Gervon Dexter had his fourth sack and a fumble recovery, and Kevin Byard had his 29th interception.

The passing game. Williams was able to make some big throws in this one after relying more on short passes the previous week. He found a wide-open Moore on a crossing pattern early in the game for a 34-yard touchdown and delivered a 30-yard dart to him for a TD late in the first half. Williams also had a 26-yard pass to Cole Kmet.

"He made a couple awesome catches this week in practice, and just building the confidence and trust between each other; and trusting this offense between everybody,” Williams said. "Offensive line, running backs, protection, the routes and what depth to run it at, how many steps and things like that, going through reads and a bunch more. We need to keep building, keep going. Great win. But definitely not settled on this.”

The run defense. The Bears were 18th against the run coming into the game and gave up 97 yards to Chuba Hubbard. He broke through a big hole for a 38-yard score that gave Carolina a short-lived 7-0 lead. Of course, it was all Bears after that. The defense came through with four sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception while holding the Panthers to 292 yards, so it was a good day overall for that group.

RB D'Andre Swift. He came up big in the second straight game, with 120 yards from scrimmage and a TD. He ran for 73 yards and a touchdown and added 47 yards receiving after picking up 165 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown the previous week against the Los Angeles Rams.

RG Nate Davis. It doesn't look as though Davis will be back in the lineup anytime soon. The Bears are using Matt Pryor at right guard and opted to keep him there rather than have him move to left guard when Teven Jenkins left Sunday's game with an ankle injury. Bill Murray took over at left guard, instead.

S Jaquan Brisker (concussion) did not travel with the team. He reported symptoms Monday afternoon and was diagnosed in the evening. He could rejoin the team this week if he clears protocol, and the Bears have not ruled him out for the game. ... Jenkins traveled with the team to London, though his status for the game is in question after he left the win over Carolina with an ankle injury. "We’ll see where it is as we go through the week,” Eberflus said. Jenkins has also been dealing with a rib issue. ... DL Zacch Pickens (groin) and DB Terell Smith (hip) did not accompany the team.

8 — The Bears have won eight straight at Soldier Field, the longest current home-field winning streak in the NFL. It's their best run since they won 10 straight starting in the 2005 season and running into 2006.

The Bears will try to make it three straight wins for the first time since a three-game run late in the 2020 season when they play Jacksonville in London on Sunday.

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Vigils, protests around the world commemorate the anniversary of Hamas attack on Israel

2024-10-08 07:47 Last Updated At：07:50

NEW YORK (AP) — Commemorations and protests unfolded across the world on Monday to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, an assault that sparked a war that has devastated the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip, fueled bloodshed in other Mideast lands and stirred protests and divisions far away.

Those divisions were visible in New York, where a crowd gathered for an evening remembrance ceremony in Central Park even as pro-Palestinian protesters converged on a corner of the park less than a mile away.

Hamas militants' surprise cross-border attack last year killed about 1,200 people. Another 250 were taken hostage; around 100 remain in captivity, with many of them feared dead. The attack, on a major Jewish holiday, shattered Israelis’ sense of security and left the world facing the prospect of a major conflict in the Middle East.

“The unfathomable horrors I experienced that morning have transformed me, along with every single Israeli and every single Jew,” Natalie Sanandaji, one of the survivors from a music festival where the attackers killed hundreds, told the audience in Central Park.

Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attack by waging a war against Hamas in Gaza, where the fighting has killed over 41,000 people and displaced around 1.9 million. The conflict has spread in the region, where Israel also is fighting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, facing escalating threats from Yemen's Houthi rebels and contending with a mounting conflict with Iran, which backs Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

The Hamas-Israel war also has spurred demonstrations and stirred tensions in many U.S. locales, including college campuses and major cities.

In New York, protesters spread a large Palestinian flag on a street near the New York Stock Exchange early Monday afternoon, while a smaller group of counterprotesters held an Israeli flag. The pro-Palestinian group grew to a blocks-long column as it marched through Manhattan streets, avenues and landmarks, at one point holding a banner that read “war begets war” on the steps of the New York Public Library.

Associated Press journalists saw several people being taken into police custody at various points in the march. Police said multiple arrests were made; no further information was immediately available.

While the protesters paused to conduct a Muslim evening prayer at the southwestern corner of Central Park, the parents of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra shared their anguish from the park's SummerStage venue.

“We would never have imagined we would still be standing here a whole year later, with no news of him," his mother, Orna Neutra, told hundreds of people at an event that drew New York’s governor, mayor, U.S. senators and other elected officials. Her son, a New York-born Israeli soldier, turns 23 next week.

At Philadelphia's Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Ellie Solomon was among a group of high school students who viewed an exhibition about the Tribe of Nova music festival in Re’im, Israel, where over 360 were killed.

“I feel like that really could have been me there,” said Solomon, who attends The Pingry School in New Jersey. Many festival attendees were close to her age, she noted.

“It’s important for us to remember them and honor them because they didn’t deserve anything that happened to them," she added.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also toured the exhibition. The Democratic governor said he hoped it gave visitors “an understanding of what really happened" and made people “more tolerant, a bit more understanding and more committed to finding peace in our society and peace across the globe.”

In Europe, where countries have sought to tamp down antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment, the German chancellery in Berlin was adorned Monday with a yellow ribbon commemorating the Israeli hostages. The names of the people killed and kidnapped were read out in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

In Hamburg, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Israelis that “we feel with you … we stand beside you" and pointed, as well, to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

In Italy, Premier Giorgia Meloni visited the main synagogue in Rome and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, while lamenting the devastation unleashed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris with relatives of hostages and of the dead. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot attended a memorial service at the site of the Nova music festival.

The Vatican took up a collection for the people of Gaza and published a letter expressing Pope Francis' solidarity.

In Poland's capital of Warsaw, the Jewish community paid tribute to Alex Dancyg, a Polish-born Holocaust educator and historian who was abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7. Israel believes he died in captivity.

In Australia, thousands of people attended vigils in Sydney and Melbourne, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joining the latter event. A day after thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied across Australia's cities, hundreds gathered amid a heavy police presence at Sydney town hall to remember Palestinians killed in the conflict.

In Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, schoolchildren took part in a pro-Palestinian rally organized by the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League party.

Japanese officials demanded the immediate release of all hostages and expressed condolences to Israelis who lost relatives in the attack.

Vejpongsa reported from Philadelphia and Spike from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz, John Minchillo and Ted Shaffrey in New York, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Diane Jeantet in Paris, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.