Insider Reveals What Has Shocked NFL Teams Most About Caleb Williams
The Chicago Bears are 4-2. For once, in what feels like ages, it isn’t just the defense that is a reason for this. Quarterback Caleb Williams has rapidly emerged as one of the hottest names in the league over the past month. He’s thrown seven touchdowns and only one interception during the Bears’ three-game winning streak. What has stood out the most is how he’s doing it. It hasn’t been the Williams everybody expected from USC, with his crazy scramble and out-of-structure throws.
The majority of his success has come from the pocket, where he delivers accurate lasers to his receiver on rhythm and timing routes. Seeing a Bears quarterback do this is jarring for fans. They haven’t seen anything like it in years. Jay Cutler was the closest they got, and he wasn’t as crisp as Williams looked. Albert Breer of the MMQB spoke to several people around the NFL about it. All have been thoroughly impressed with the rookie, but one other thing has also earned a lot of praise.
Baba, everyone I’ve talked to is impressed with Williams’s progress. The sky’s the limit, and there’s a lot to be excited about in Chicago. I also think the Chicago Bears’ staff showed a lot of gumption in its Peyton-Manning-in-1998-esque plan for the first pick—letting him make his mistakes, and trusting that his makeup wouldn’t allow for him to lose confidence going through it.
I think that, in a meaningful way, has accelerated his development.
The Bears actually had a good plan for Caleb Williams.
This is an issue that has haunted the organization for years. Every time they took a quarterback in the 1st round, it felt like they never had a clear vision of what they wanted to do. Cade McNown was thrust into a veteran locker room with no guidance and quickly alienated himself. Rex Grossman had a poor supporting cast early in his career, which was hampered further by coaching changes. Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields saw the same thing. Their head coaches were replaced after their first respective seasons. To say nothing of how bad the protection and weaponry were for both.
It has been different for Caleb Williams. GM Ryan Poles spent three off-seasons assembling a credible roster of weapons and a steady offensive line. Chicago then hired experienced offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to handle his development. Lastly, head coach Matt Eberflus made it clear Williams would start immediately. There would be no sitting period like with Trubisky and Fields. He would get thrown in the water and learn how to swim. They grilled him hard in training camp, gave him as many reps as possible in the preseason, and worked through the early struggles in September.
Previous Bears regimes wouldn’t have handled it with such patience and clarity of purpose. Now, they’re reaping the rewards.