Caleb Williams looks sharp in Ben Johnson's offense as Bears rout Bills 38-0 in preseason

CHICAGO (AP) — Caleb Williams' rocky training camp now seems to be on the upswing.

Williams took advantage of his first preseason playing time, connecting with Olamide Zaccheaus for a 36-yard touchdown on the opening drive as the Chicago Bears cruised to 38-0 preseason victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.

“I think it sets the tone for how we expect ourselves to go out there and play, and go out there and perform,” Williams said. “It was extremely important.”

After sitting out a 24-24 tie with Miami last week, Williams came out firing against Buffalo (0-2) in his first chance to operate coach Ben Johnson’s offense during a game.

“I thought really the three days of practice we had this week, and the game, were the most he’s stacked up good days in a row right now,” Johnson said. “The challenge is to keep it headed in that direction.”

The first pick in the 2024 draft completed throws of 18 yards to rookie first-round pick Colston Loveland and 29 yards to tight end Cole Kmet on a game-opening 92-yard march that concluded when Zaccheaus snagged a throw in the middle of the field on third-and-6, hurdled a tackler and went the distance.

Williams has been spotty throughout training camp but he was sharp from the start in this game. He hit on six of his first seven throws, then left after the second possession. He finished 6 of 10 for 102 yards.

“I think had a couple of those (poor) practices throughout camp,” Williams said. "I felt like I took two steps forward, small things that I felt like I got over. Then I took a step back, probably.

“It's just being able to keep that mindset, the growth mindset, keep growing, keep getting after it.”

Tyson Bagent came on to lead three second-quarter touchdown drives as the Bears (1-0-1) took a 28-0 halftime lead.

Bagent finished a 61-yard drive by rifling a 10-yard strike in the corner of the end zone to Tyler Scott. Before halftime, newly acquired Bears running back Brittain Brown finished an 86-yard drive with a 1-yard TD plunge, and Ian Wheeler’s 1-yard TD run completed an 84-yard drive.

Bills coach Sean McDermott held reigning MVP Josh Allen and all of his other starters out of the game. Buffalo's backups struggled throughout the first half on both sides of the ball.

“The quarterback cannot go in the first drive of the game unaffected and he was in a rhythm right away and now you're dealing with it,” McDermott said. “The quarterback ratings at the end of the game says it all.”

Three Bears passers had a 112.0 passer rating, including 130.0 by Williams. The Bills' Mitchell Trubisky, Mike White and Shane Buechele collectively were at 55.7.

“I was looking forward to seeing some guys with the opportunity tonight step up, and I didn’t sense that as much as I hoped,” McDermott said.

After Wheeler’s TD plunge, the Bears had outgained the Bills 343 yards to 22 and owned an 18-1 advantage in first downs.

Bagent played until midway through the third quarter and went 13 of 22 for 197 yards, while Wheeler rushed 19 times for 80 yards and Brown 16 times for 73 yards.

Trubisky, the former Bears quarterback, relieved Bills starter Mike White and completed 7 of 13 passes for 56 yards. White went 4 of 11 for 54 yards.

Allen hasn’t played in either of Buffalo's preseason games. He has thrown at least three passes in every preseason since he came into the league in 2018.

Also held out was running back James Cook, who had been staging a hold-in before getting a contract extension. Cook returned to practice this week.

McDermott did get a brief look at 2024 draft picks Cole Bishop playing safety. He has been dealing with a quad injury and had a 12-play limit

“He needs more experience, he needs more reps,” McDermott said. "That's where you work out some of these things and that's how you build the callousness and it comes from experience."

Bills: DB Jordan Hancock left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury.

Bears: Second-year DE Austin Booker injured a knee covering a kick return and did not return. Booker was off to a fast start with 4 1/2 preseason sacks, including 1 1/2 in the first half against the Bills. ... Rookie RB Deion Hankins suffered a knee injury on the second possession and did not return. The Bears were already without RBs Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer. ... CB Terell Smith suffered a knee injury while making a tackle just before halftime and left the field on a cart. ... DE Dominique Robinson left in the second half with an ankle injury. ... Rookie WR J.P. Richardson (ankle) left in the fourth quarter.

Bills: Wrap up the preseason at Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Bears: Finish the preseason Friday at Kansas City.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Chicago Bears running back Ian Wheeler, right, celebrates with Joel Wilson (86) after Wheeler rushed for a touchdown in the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Chicago Bears defensive end Xavier Carlton (93) celebrates after recovering a Buffalo Bills fumble in the second half of a preseason NFL football game Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Bears running back Ian Wheeler (33), Maurice Alexander (13) and Jahdae Walker (20) celebrate after Wheeler rushed for a touchdown in the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) throws a pass under pressure from Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Deone Walker (96) in the first half of a preseason NFL football game Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) throws a pass in the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

AL HENAKIYAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Ricky Brabec deliberately gave up his motorbike lead over Luciano Benavides in the Dakar Rally while Nasser Al-Attiyah was happy to cruise through another day closer to his sixth car title on Thursday.

Al-Attiyah started 346-kilometer stage 11 between Bisha north to Al Henakiyah with a 12-minute overall lead and let it drop to less than nine minutes over new second-placed driver Nani Roma in a Ford.

Al-Attiyah was content to let Dacia teammate Sébastien Loeb catch up and pass him to have a teammate nearby for any help and to minimize errors on the mazy, dirt track. Al-Attiyah was 17th, nearly 13 minutes behind stage winner Mattias Ekström, and said he needed to execute the same plan on Friday's last effective racing stage before the end on Saturday.

“If we lose two, three, four minutes no problem,” Al-Attiyah said. “We just need to finish this Dakar in first place.”

Honda cooked up a strategy in the Saudi desert for Adrien van Beveren to open the way and let Brabec catch up after the 190-kilometer pit stop and pick up time bonuses.

Brabec boosted his overall lead from 56 seconds to nearly four minutes just 25 kilometers from the finish. He was also within a minute of the stage lead but he slowed down so KTM rival Benavides was the new overall leader, but only by 23 seconds.

Brabec got his his wish to start Friday's stage 12 six minutes behind Benavides, so he can eye him. They head west to the rally starting point of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on 311 kilometers of gravel, some river beds with a finish in the dunes.

“A little bit of strategy today and hopefully it pays off tomorrow,” Brabec said. "I feel like its going to be a good day. We’re going back into the rocks so it will be a little bit better for us.”

Brabec is counting on his experience of winning the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 to trump Benavides, who has a best placing of fourth last year.

“I've been in this situation before,” Brabec said. “For the whole two weeks I've been just trying to stay relax, stay comfortable and just be confident, so two days more. I'm gonna do the same thing tomorrow that I've been doing every day; ride dirt bikes and have fun.”

Van Beveren helped Brabec with navigation while fighting with another teammate, Skyler Howes, the entire day for the stage win.

Howes prevailed by 21 seconds for his first career major stage in his eighth Dakar. He was third in 2023 and sixth last year. He's running fifth, 34 minutes off the pace.

Benavides was fourth in the stage and believed the race will be decided on the final 105-kilometer sprint on Saturday.

“I played no strategy like Ricky. I don't care,” Benavides said. “I'm doing what I can to control what I can control.”

Ekström won his third car stage of this Dakar, a special so fast that 12 other drivers were within 10 minutes.

Ford achieved another 1-2-3 stage. Romain Dumas, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, was a career-best second just over a minute back and Carlos Sainz was third.

Only Toyota's Henk Lategan beat Ekström to a checkpoint but Lategan's podium hopes were wrecked after 140 kilometers when a bearing broke on his rear left wheel. Lategan was second last year and second overall overnight but he plunged out of the top 15, at least.

Loeb moved up to third overall, 10 minutes behind Roma and three minutes ahead of Ekström.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Rider Daniel Sanders competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Rider Skyler Howes competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Driver Henk Lategan, left, and co-driver Brett Cummings repair their car during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Driver Nani Roma and co-driver Alex Haro compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)