The Chicago Bears will host the Carolina Panthers at Soldier Field this week, and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, the crown jewel of the March 2023 trade between the two teams, will meet the Panthers for the first time.
Williams was asked about the trade that ultimately landed him in Chicago to open his media availability at Halas Hall today. Williams said that he’s thankful for the deal that gave him the opportunity to be a Chicago Bear, but he doesn’t entertain the history of the deal much beyond that.
Caleb Williams says that the Bears are “definitely figuring it out” on offense
Growth isn’t always linear. The Chicago Bears’ offense reminded us of that during the season’s first month. Through three weeks, the unit looked lost, disjointed, and perhaps doomed. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams took steps, but the operation around him was messy. Sunday was a step in the right direction for the unit as a whole, and we hope to see another significant step this Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
On Wednesday, Williams said that the offense is figuring things out, even if the path there wasn’t what we (or they) had hoped it would look like.
“I think last game was a huge stepping stone for us, to be able to go against a team like that and coaches like that. …” he said. “There’s a lot of knowledge over there. To be able to get the run game going … I think we’re taking the steps in the right direction.”
Williams was asked if he had an idea of the offense’s identity after four games, and the rookie admitted that he doesn’t have the answer yet.
If you’ve observed a more comfortable and controlled version of Caleb Williams in the last two weeks, it’s because he has felt that way. Williams said he feels more comfortable with the operation, and his body is bouncing back quicker than it did in the first two weeks. He attributes the shift to simply not playing real football games since last November.
“You can prepare all you want … football shape is different. You can run all you want, you can run the hills, you can lift, you can do all of these things and be on a tight routine with yourself and the team, or whatever the case may be, and you get into a football game, and you’re tired, you’re exhausted in a game. You’ve taken a few hits, and your body hasn’t adjusted to that yet; it’s a real thing.
“After the first two games of my career here, I was a little bit more sore than I have been these past two weeks. I think it is something for sure.”
Interesting. We’ll want to revisit this next summer when training camp rolls around and the conversation about Williams’s playing time begins.
More Caleb Williams Quotes:
- On Tory Taylor: “He’s unbelievable. The night we drafted him, that was the first time I’ve ever looked at highlight tapes on a punter,” Williams said. “I love the guy; he’s great … I’m grateful to have him for what he does for this team.”
- On the value of the underneath game in the NFL: “I think that was, when I was in college, a knock on my game. Everyone wanted to say that I don’t take check-downs and things like that, but you also have to adapt to the team; you have to adapt to the situation. It’s always a growing and learning process, and I think I’ve done a pretty solid job of finding check-downs and understanding that’s huge for keeping our offense on the football field.”
- On the end zone shot to DJ Moore near the end of the first half against the Rams: “The safety was tucked in, and that corner made DJ go inside; they were in some two-high shell kind of thing, and I don’t know if their corner played it bad or just playing Cover 2, specifically, but in reading it through the dropback, I saw DJ go inside and thought he was going to keep it a little more vertical but he went back out … just not on the same page. I wouldn’t say it’s somebody’s fault, it’s just us not on the same page. We went over it on the sideline.”
- On his success passing against the blitz in Week 4: “I think for me, it’s understanding what we need as a team at the moment, which is no turnovers, protecting the football, and being smart with the football … you learn from all of your mistakes, and that’s what I’ve been doing. Those interceptions, those messed up plays that I may have had, the rookie mistakes; just learning from those as fast as possible.”