Sunday, October 13th, 2024

‘Comfortable’ Williams sends warning to league

Craig Llewellyn

Editor

‘Comfortable’ Williams sends warning to league

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams is good. Who’d have thought that of the first overall pick in April’s NFL Draft?

Williams’ first couple of games in the pro league may have been shaky, big stage nerves maybe, but a four-touchdown performance in the Bears 35-16 demolition of the Jacksonville Jaguars in London confirmed that the USC product has found his feet — and that should serve as a warning to the rest of the league as Chicago moves to 4-2 through six weeks of the 2024 season.

“I think, throughout the whole process of these past couple games, I think I’ve been seeing it well,” Williams claimed. “That starts throughout the whole week, watching film, getting there in practice, talking to the coaches, players and things like that. I think the comfort level of just getting back to playing football and where I need to be: [where my] eyes need to be, if I need to hold a safety, if I need to just hang on a route, just getting back comfortable having that feel for the game. Obviously, you study, you watch, and do all these other things but, you know, once the ball snaps, you have to have that post-snap read and know what you have to do and be confident about it.”

Williams became only the second rookie quarterback to win a London, after Sunday’s opponent Trevor Lawrence, and the first Bears rookie QB to score four passing touchdowns in a single game since 1999, as he tossed a brace of scores to both TE Cole Kmet and veteran wideout Keenan Allen.

“Offensive line, coaching, progress, the leadership on this team,” Williams claimed, when asked for the reasons behind his success. “You know, for me, the constant mindset of keeping going, and then us getting out there and getting our momentum going, getting out there and executing, believing in each other. Being able to take that eight-, nine-hour flight home with the win going into a bye week, it feels great.”

The afternoon didn’t appear too promising for Williams and Chicago after an opening quarter that ended with the Bears trailing 3-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but the rookie was instrumental in turning things around, as the Bears put up 200 yards in the second period alone.

“I would say we have to be better and start faster, especially when we get the ball first, but we definitely did a good job right before going into the [half-time break],” he commented. “Those points were huge — they always talk about the four minutes going into half and the four minutes coming out of it, so it was super important.”

The one blot on Williams’ copybook was an interception early in the game, when he failed to spot the advancing Andre Cisco converging on what appeared to be a wide-open D.J. Moore with the endzone beckoning.

“I didn’t add enough juice behind it,” the rookie admitted. “I didn’t put it where I put it in practice, which is the back pylon, and the safety had an easy interception. It hung a little bit more than I wanted it to, as I put it a little too high and not far enough. You know, I need to be better because that would have got everything going instead of turning the ball over.

“You can’t have turnovers — and that’s something that I pride myself on. Obviously, it affects the whole team. It affects my momentum, especially when you have a wide open receiver like D.J. streaking down the field. I was a bit pissed off at myself because that’s a pass that I don’t miss — that you don’t want to miss — but still had in the back of my mind, let’s go out here and go score. I definitely had a few words for myself after that but, you know, it got the mindset back on track and ready to go for the next [possession].”

Tight end Kmet, who got the Bears rolling with two early touchdown catches, was amongst the many with praise for the way his rookie  QB has developed through six weeks of the season.

“People can be excited as they want to be, but I think what I can say about Caleb is he’s taken steps every game,” Kmet said. ” I think that’s been evident. I’m sure he’ll tell you he probably wants that one throw back that he had to D.J. but, besides that, I thought he did some really amazing stuff. I thought the scramble he had to me was just an unbelievable play and just how he can create and do those type of things. If they are going to play man on us like they did a few times and things might be covered or muddy downfield, he’s able to escape the pocket and get 20 or 30 yards on some of those runs. He’s just super dynamic. He’s a pass-first guy, but he has the ability to run, as well, and I think he did a pretty good job of taking care of himself when he does become a runner as well.”

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