How Caleb Williams is convincing the Chicago Bears he's improving, even after offensive struggles in camp
CHICAGO - Caleb Williams has mentioned before how hard he is on himself.
The 22-year-old Chicago Bears' rookie has made it clear Monday he believes he's on the right track to be ready for Week 1's game against the Titans.
He explained the burden of proof he has for himself after practice.
'When I go out on the field, I expect myself to not mess up. It’s just how I am," Williams said. "And so when I do, it’s frustrating, and I would think for any quarterback in the league."
But, that daily strive to be perfect is what stands out to the Bears coaching staff through the beginning of the offseason programs and through the first week of training camp practices where the offense has looked less than stellar.
"That daily improvement and positive mindset that he shows up with every single day," Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said. "Both of those things give him a chance to be great. He works hard and he does all the right things around and leading up to every single practice."
There's plenty about Williams that needs to improve, and while the Bears have given Williams a lot to start with, they at least know where they can focus their improvement efforts on in the coming days.
"With him it’s the operation and cadence, owning all the things that goes in there," Waldron said. "The great part about it is he cares. He works hard and he’s so competitive that each day we’ve seen that improvement from him. We’re confident that part of it is headed in the right direction.
The cadence has brought mixed reviews.
While there have been pre-snap penalties that have bogged down 11-on-11 drills and two-minute drills, there has been success with Williams' verbal cadence.
There have been a couple of times when Williams has drawn the defensive line offside or gotten the front four to jump.
Above all, the Bears aren't too positive or negative on where Williams is. They believe he's on track, and they haven't openly expressed concern about his development. That's a good thing, especially when the rest of the Bears' offense is also learning a new system or getting acclimated to the new situations at Halas Hall.
"Everything else it’s not just Caleb," Waldron said. "It’s the young guys on the roster, the guys that are new to the roster here. Getting a sense, a comfort level, with how we do things, what our 2024 Bears language is, communicating with each other."
It takes a team, to be clear. That doesn't stop Williams from getting frustrated when the plays don't come together.
After some of the failed two-minute drills last week, you could visibly see how frustrated he was as he walked back to the sidelines and dissected what happened with his teammates and coaches.
Don't confuse this with bad body language, either. He understands how every quarterback has the same vision, but only a few actually get to reach that vision. Those players are in the top-tier of NFL quarterbacks.
"There’s only 32 of us that are starting," Williams said. "For any quarterback in the league, I would expect them to be the same of when you go out there you expect to have no (missed assignments), no interceptions, no turnovers and things like that."
Of course, perfection is not really possible in football.
To have all 11 players in a unit execute a play perfectly is a rare feat. To have that feat repeated across an entire game is too tall of a task.
The frustration in that lack of perfection is part of the drive the Bears revel in as the No. 1 overall pick learns the offense. It was better on Monday. He had a goal line touchdown toss to Keenan Allen.
"I felt a big gap open up, and I knew Keenan was coming on the back line," Williams said. "I felt the defense push over. The backer attacked, and then the backer was too low and I threw it over his head."
It was a positive play, but that doesn't overshadow the learning curves still to come.
Williams wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's frustrating," Williams said. "But it's how you respond and react to those frustrating times is when you grow and get better."
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