Bears' Thomas Brown on Caleb Williams: 'The goal is not perfection — the goal is to be excellent'
Everything the Bears have done all year has been to take pressure off rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, from teaching him the playbook before he was even drafted to surrounding him with veterans to picking a coordinator they thought would best fit with him.
It took only 12 games for that all to unravel. Coach Matt Eberflus and coordinator Shane Waldron have been fired, and the quarterback is on his third different offensive coordinator — and second play-caller — entering Sunday’s game at the 49ers.
Williams has been left as the main factor that will determine the future of the franchise.
“Being able to handle it my first year, handle a new playbook, handle all these different changes, handle all of this,” Williams said, “I think it definitely will help the development instead of hurting.”
The Bears better pray it does. His growth the rest of the season will come in spite of the team's master plan, not because of it. He has five weeks left to make a closing argument for just how attractive the Bears’ vacancy will be in January.
The Bears don’t want Williams to feel that kind of pressure. Interim head coach Thomas Brown has said since he took over as coordinator that he needs Williams to cut himself some slack.
“Being able to understand how to challenge yourself but also give yourself grace and to breathe – if you mess it up, get back in the huddle and get it right,” Brown said.
“The goal is not perfection. The goal is to be excellent.”
Williams has flirted with excellent the last three weeks. His 99.2 passer rating from Weeks 11-13 ranks 11th in the NFL among quarterbacks who threw at least 50 passes. His 827 passing yards are sixth and his five passing touchdowns are 10th. He hasn’t thrown an interception in almost two months.
Williams is “as talented as there is,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters this week.
“The stuff that you saw in college, you can see in the NFL,” he said. “As good of a thrower as there is, born to play the position, got the athletic ability to do whatever, he’s got the speed to do whatever. He’s gotten a lot of playing time, he’s getting better as this year goes …
“I think he’s getting a lot more consistent. I think he’s been playing his best ball probably here the last few weeks. He’s put them in a chance to win.”
Winning has eluded the Bears in the most soul-crushing way possible the past six games. On Thanksgiving, Williams changed a play at the line of scrimmage when Eberflus refused to take a timeout. His deep ball fell incomplete as the clock expired in a 23-20 loss to the Lions.
Brown has stressed late-game situations in meetings and practices all week. But Williams said he knows he needed to be more urgent as the clock ticked down.
“I also could have understood the situation a little bit better,” the rookie said. “The play call, I thought when we called that last play it was a no huddle play, we wanted to get lined up and I saw the clock winding down. Wanted to try to take a shot at the end zone because I was expecting it to be our last play in that moment. We were actually trying to get back in field-goal range.
“Just not on the same page in that situation. Definitely can learn from it, definitely will learn from it.”
He has five games left to show what he’s learned.
The Bears don’t know who their coach or play-caller will be next year. But they think they have their quarterback.
“It’s a very good spot to be in in a league that’s quarterback-driven,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “You’ve got a quarterback who can win games. So we need to start doing that.”