The Chicago Bears making a midseason coaching change for the first time in franchise history certainly was not ideal for Caleb Williams
There’s no sugar-coating the fact that year number one in the career of Caleb Williams has not gone according to plan. The young phenom is already on his second play-caller and head coach just 13 games into his time as an NFL quarterback. The Chicago Bears organization did something in Williams’ first year that they have never done in the 100-plus year history of the team in firing a head coach during the campaign. With Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron out of the picture, the outlook for Williams continues to look extremely positive.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin sat down with Williams to talk about all of the wildness that has come out of his rookie year. Between the coaching changes and the losing, it has taken a lot for the former USC Trojan to get used to the ups and downs in the life of being a franchise quarterback.
Cronin pointed out the fact that the Chicago Bears have had losing streaks like this all over the place in the last few years. When comparing this to Williams’ career as a pure winner, you have to go back to his high school days to find his longest losing streak in recent memory.
This isn’t the first long stretch of losses for the Bears over the past three seasons. The Bears lost 14 straight — a franchise record — from Week 8 of the 2022 season through Week 4 of the following year. Dating back to high school, the most consecutive losses Williams has undured came during a three-game losing streak that ended his collegiate career at USC in 2023.
Williams told Cronin that losing to this degree is a lot to take in and deal with all at once in his first professional season.
“So I ask questions,” Williams said. “I do understand that this is, one, my first time being a part of something like this, of losing and this streak going, so I ask questions to the guys that may have lost a bunch of games in a row like this or had losing seasons. I ask them questions because the more knowledge that I have prepares me for the future if this ever comes close to something like this again.”
It’s easy to say now that brighter days are ahead for this Chicago Bears organization, but the young pieces of the team’s core dealing with losing on a daily basis can surely take its’ toll. The talks of the coaching candidates that the team intends to pursue could certainly be on the minds of the players as they finish out their final four games of the campaign.
Through it all, Williams has taken immense strides in the Chicago Bears offense under Brown’s tutelage
Ever since Waldron was relieved of his duties as the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator, Williams has seen much more success under the guidance of Thomas Brown. A big difference that can be seen in Williams’ game over the last month or so has been the confidence that he is playing with to air the ball out more.
Brown mentioned this in his conversation with Cronin as something that was much needed for Williams to progress as a quarterback in his rookie season.
“I would say that [he is throwing a lot of passes] and also he’s not playing scared,” Brown said. “He’s ripping some footballs into tight windows. I think it’s probably even more impressive. It’s not like he’s sitting back there not taking an opportunity. [He’s] taking chances down the field.”
Despite the Chicago Bears officially being eliminated from playoff contention yesterday, there is still plenty to keep an eye on for their final four games. The biggest being the growth of Williams and how Brown continues to work with him in hopes of being apart of this Chicago Bears coaching staff entering next season. The next test for this tandem is on Monday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Minnesota Vikings.
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