After a slow start, Caleb Williams and the Bears' No. 1 offense closed the first half of Saturday's preseason game against the Bengals with a flourish.

The unit produced a field goal and a touchdown on its final two possessions, staking the Bears to a 10-0 lead en route to a 27-3 victory at Soldier Field.

On the final drive of the half, Williams displayed many of the traits that led him to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in this year's NFL Draft.

From the Bears' 48, the rookie quarterback spun away from pressure in the pocket, rolled to his left and lofted a perfect pass down the sideline to rookie receiver Rome Odunze, who caught the ball in stride for a 45-yard gain to the Bengals' 7.

"I've seen [Williams] do that a few times in practice," said coach Matt Eberflus. "Obviously very talented throwing on the move and throwing to his left, so it was really good, and Rome did a good job of tracking the ball."

Odunze described the throw as "pretty unreal."

"Caleb did his magic there and placed the ball exactly where it needed to be, and I was there to make the catch," Odunze said. "I just watched it back. Man, he's throwing off of one leg, putting it on my outside shoulder. It's like, 'oooh.' It's magical what he's doing back there in that backfield. He's special."

Williams felt the play was a result of following scramble rules and the cohesiveness he's formed with Odunze.

"I think both of them played a huge part, probably 50/50," Williams said. "My only thing is just stay in range; if you're running a post and you're already 60 yards down the field, it's a little bit tougher to throw on the run 60 yards when you're already down there. Stay in range and make it super decisive and detailed for me so I can see exactly what you're doing. Don't try to settle and move and things like that … he did a great job. He broke out in his route, saw me scrambling, and then broke up field down the sideline, left a few yards on the hashes, and then I tried to give him a great ball; he made a great catch."

Three plays later on third-and-goal from the 7, Williams again showed his mobility and play-making ability. He stepped up in the pocket, spun away from another defender, rolled to his left, continued to look for a receiver and then took off running behind left guard Teven Jenkins and cruised into the end zone.

It was an epic way to exit the game for Williams, who completed 6 of 13 passes for 75 yards and a 64.6 passer rating while playing the entire first half.

"I'm proud of our coaches for sticking with that first group a little bit further than what was planned," general manager Ryan Poles said on the FOX 32 TV broadcast. "I think it's important to allow a young quarterback in the offense that is learning a new system to work through some of those things."

Eberflus liked what he saw from Williams Saturday at Soldier Field.

"He had a nice professional day by a quarterback," said the Bears coach. "It's not always going to be rosy. You're not going to make all your completions, make big chunk plays to start out. I saw operation that was good: before the snap, in and out of the huddle, really good communicating, the cadence was good. I thought his flow of the game was really nice. I also thought his disposition when he had a little adversity on the sideline was excellent. Body language, demeanor never changed. He was always in there just working through the next one."

The Bears defense picked up where it left off a week earlier in Buffalo, extending its streak of not allowing a touchdown to nine quarters after keeping a second straight opponent out of the end zone. The last TD the Bears permitted came in the first half of a 21-17 victory over the Texans in the Hall of Fame Game.

The unit produced the first impact play Saturday early in the second quarter. The Bengals had reached the Chicago 22 when blitzing nickel back Josh Blackwell drilled quarterback Logan Woodside, causing his pass to flutter. Linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga intercepted the ball and returned it 10 yards to the 26.

On the next play, Odunze picked up the Bears' initial first down of the game on a 16-yard reverse. Receiver Tyler Scott then drew a 43-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback Josh Newton on a post pattern, setting up Cairo Santos' 37-yard field goal, which gave the Bears a 3-0 lead with 9:08 left in the second quarter.

After Williams capped an 8-play, 90-yard drive with his 7-yard TD scramble to make it 10-0, the Bengals cut the deficit to 10-3 on Evan McPherson's 54-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

On the Bengals' first possession of the third quarter, cornerback Terell Smith stepped in front of receiver Cole Burgess and intercepted Woodside's pass, returning it 18 yards to the Cincinnati 42.

The Bears converted the takeaway into a 4-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Tyson Bagent to receiver Dante Pettis, extending the lead to 17-3 midway through the third quarter.

Bagent and Pettis combined for a TD pass for a second straight drive, this time a 25-yarder in the right corner of the end zone, that widened the margin to 24-3.

The Bears defense followed by generating its third takeaway as defensive end Daniel Hardy stripped the ball from quarterback Rocky Lombardi on a scramble and defensive tackle Keith Randolph Jr. recovered at the 50.

The Bears turned the takeaway into Santos' 51-yard field goal, extending their lead to 27-3 with 10:17 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Bears converted three takeaways into a touchdown and two field goals.

"I thought that was really good complementary football," Eberflus said.

Bagent performed well, exiting midway through the fourth period in favor of Brett Rypien after completing 7 of 8 passes for 87 yards with two TDs and a 151.6 passer rating.

"Bagent's always done that," Eberflus said. "We've seen him play in games last year; he did a wonderful job for us coming in there, and he's a good player, he really is, and understands the offense really well. Picks up things really well. Can chunk a lot of information and he's a really good rhythm passer. He can really throw on time … He's got all the angles, all the speeds that you need, and he's a talent."

With Saturday's win, the Bears improved their preseason record to 3-0. They'll close out the preseason Thursday night against the Chiefs in Kansas City.

Eberflus has not yet decided whether Williams and the rest of the starters will play in the finale. But the coach already knows what to expect from the talented rookie quarterback.

"We'll look at the tape, we'll talk as a group," Eberflus said. "The players are off tomorrow, so we have the whole day to be able to digest this performance from every level, including the quarterback. Then we'll just look at each other and say, 'Yeah, this is good,' or we'll have to flow into the next one. We'll see where that is.

"In terms of what I learned from him is what I've said all along: He always rises to the challenge. We'll challenge him again this week to improve this week on basically everything of quarterbacking that he needs to. He's done a really good job of that. We'll just look at it like that."