Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has been engrossed in controversy for seemingly the entire offseason. His latest bit of drama revolves around his response to a net drill during training camp.
After missing the mark four times, Williams looks visibly frustrated as he walks off. Once the internet got wind of the video, it immediately went viral as the NFL world clowned Williams and the Bears.
VIDEO: #Bears QB Caleb Williams throws a temper tantrum after missing four consecutive checkdowns during a throwing net drill. pic.twitter.com/xqnh7NhLqk
— 𝑻𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 🍀 (@TylerTalksBall) August 2, 2025
General manager Ryan Poles was among the many who saw that video and its eventual aftermath. However, his approach to the situation is much different. Poles isn’t sounding any alarms or pressing any panic buttons. Instead, he saw the situation as amusing. He knew that Williams had a brad practice, but not that the net incident would go as viral as it did, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.
“I actually think it’s pretty cool,” Poles told ESPN about the uproar over the video. “I knew there was a bad practice. I’ve seen clips on Twitter. I didn’t know it was a national crisis of Caleb struggling.”
Ryan Poles’ assessment of Chicago Bears QB situation
Poles and the Bears went all in on Williams during the offseason. They hired an offensive-minded head coach in Ben Johnson. Then, Chicago completely revitalized their offensive line while adding even more firepower to their receiving room.
Still, Poles understands that Williams’ development will be a process rather than an immediate fix. He is remaining patient and isn’t shocked to see some hiccups with the Bears building out a brand new defense as well.
“I think as a human being, I want it to happen super fast, and I would love for it to look really clean and for [Williams] to look like a fifth-year vet right now,” Poles said. “But I think, just being in this long enough, what’s reality, though? It’s going to take time. It’s new.
“A new defense is going to jump out faster. It always does,” he continued. “We’re also playing this man scheme that [defensive coordinator] Dennis [Allen] is playing is a pain, and he is not holding back anything. And I think because of that it might look choppy at times, but that’s what you want. You want this time to look, be as hard as possible. And then when you get to game time when the lights come on, you want that to then slow down.”
When the Bears go through their joint practices with the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, alongside their three-game preseason schedule, Johnson and company will have a much better understanding of what they have in Williams. But Poles knows he is much better than what was shown on the net clip.
Every practice, every rep is an opportunity for the quarterback to get better. And with flashes like a 40-yard touchdown pass on Tuesday, Poles knows Williams is on the right track.
“He’s getting better at it,” Poles said. “It’ll start with the simple, obviously as you go and you get older, all of a sudden you can progress from one side of the field to the other — fast. Very similar to when we were in [Kansas City], [Chiefs quarterback] Pat [Mahomes] didn’t know coverages, a lot of the big plays were when he just made things happen.
“And every year you just keep getting better and better at identifying what teams are doing to you, and then all of a sudden there’s looks that they’re hiding from you and then all of a sudden snap goes and then they’re switching into something,” he continued. “Once your Rolodex grows, you can react to those things and actually start to manipulate them as you get older. It’s just part of the quarterback position in the growth process.”
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