It’s no secret that Matt Eberflus’ tenure with the Chicago Bears ended in disaster. But now quarterback Caleb Williams has revealed how bad things truly got.
Williams began his rookie season with Eberflus as his head coach and Shane Waldron as his offensive coordinator. But after Chicago’s embarrassing loss to the Washington Commanders, the wheels fell off. The Bears lost 10 straight games as both Eberflus and Waldron were fired. Eberflus became the first head coach fired midseason in franchise history.
But Williams admitted problems were emerging far before the Commanders game. Back in January, Taylor Doll of Making Monsters stated that the quarterback was watching film on his own. In Seth Wickersham of ESPN’s upcoming book, ‘American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback,’ Williams confirms that the coaching staff didn’t give him any direction when it came to watching film.
“No one tells me what to watch,” Williams told his dad. “I just turn it on.”
This part, man. Previous coaching….. #Bears https://t.co/TzFfpEVK7L pic.twitter.com/6sDIao633v
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) May 15, 2025
Caleb Williams’ rookie struggles with Chicago Bears
It wasn’t all bad for Williams, as he set new Bears rookie records in passing yards (3,541) and touchdowns (20). However, the quarterback failed to live up to his No. 1 pick standing and was largely overshadowed by No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels.
Williams was coming off of one of the better games of his rookie season before taking on the Commanders, throwing for 226 yards, four touchdowns and an interception against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But starting with that Washington matchup, the quarterback had four straight games of zero touchdowns and less than 250 yards passing. Waldron was fired after Week 10.
Nine times did Williams fail to break 250 yards pass, six of those seeing him not even hit 200. His debut saw the quarterback throw for just 93 yards. There were too many times where the supposed franchise star was invisible on the field and in the box score. Enough became enough after the Bears fell 23-20 to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving and Eberflus was shown the doors.
One of the biggest problems for Williams during his rookie year was holding onto the ball too long. He’d wait for a play to develop downfield, and when it didn’t, the opposing defense had more than enough time to get to him. While his offensive line did him no favors, Williams played a sizable role in Chicago allowing a league-leading 68 sacks.
While just speculation, it seems that watching constructive film would help in that regard. Williams can see on tape other options he can target if the play doesn’t develop. Furthermore, as a weekly problem, Eberflus would seemingly want to address the issue as soon as possible. With Williams being a rookie, it’d make sense for Eberflus and Waldron to direct their quarterback to take in as much information as possible.
But the pairing went against the grain and did, nothing. It went as imagined, with the Bears going 5-12 and missing the playoffs once again. With Chicago at 4-2 at the time of their Commanders mishaps, it’s fair to wonder what some direct coaching would’ve done. Instead, Eberflus is now with the Dallas Cowboys as Ben Johnson has arrived to fix the broken Bears puzzle.
Chicago Bears: Sigler’s 2025 game-by-game prediction
Read MoreFor More Great Chicago Sports Content
Get the latest Chicago sports news, analysis, and breaking stories on the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox, Sky, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, so you never miss a story on your favorite Chicago teams.
Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
