Chicago Bears fans remember the moment well. The team had just lost a tough game in Houston to the Texans. Quarterback Caleb Williams, playing in just his second game, struggled. He threw two interceptions and took seven sacks. After the final whistle, Williams went onto the field to shake hands. There, fellow quarterback C.J. Stroud attempted to give him some advice. It amounted to telling him to stop taking so many sacks and keep his chin up. Most saw it as an attempt by Stroud to big-brother a quarterback, despite being in his second season himself.
Williams had to be wondering what he might say if put in a similar position down the line. Sure enough, he was offered that opportunity on Friday. The Bears had just concluded a joint practice against the Tennessee Titans. Williams was asked if he had any advice for quarterback Cam Ward, a fellow former #1 overall pick who’d struggled in his rookie season on a rebuilding team. Rather than give bland platitudes, the Bears quarterback decided to keep it simple. His advice?
Believe in Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and trust the process.
Caleb Williams was correct in his assessment.
Daboll may not have had a great run as head coach of the New York Giants, but the man is unquestioned as an offensive coordinator. For nearly the past decade, he’s done tremendous work developing young quarterbacks. In 2017, he won a national championship at Alabama, molding Tua Tagovailoa into an eventual 1st round draft pick. Then he went to Buffalo, where he oversaw the rise of Josh Allen into arguably the best quarterback in football today. He even squeezed a career-best season out of Daniel Jones in 2022 while making the playoffs.
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Caleb Williams knew all of this. From his point of view, the smart thing to do is listen to what Daboll has to say and trust that he has your best interests at heart as a quarterback. The last thing Ward should do is try telling a coach with that kind of reputation how to do things the right way. It’s like what Bill Walsh told Steven Young many years ago. Just follow the instructions and you can play quarterback in the NFL. It is the same for Ward. Don’t overthink it. Let Daboll guide the way.
Williams is speaking from experience, after all.
He knew Ben Johnson’s reputation as an offensive coordinator when the man arrived as the new head coach in 2025. However, after the miserable experience he’d just had as a rookie, one could understand if the quarterback was a bit skeptical at first. Johnson didn’t tiptoe around the issue. He had a frank conversation with the quarterback about what must be done and how they would do it. After some hesitation, Williams embraced the process and began seeing results midway through last season. Since then, he’s been all in.
It will likely be the same for Ward. He has more than enough talent to be a great player in this league. The flashes were there even last season. Like Williams, he must learn to play the position with his head as much as his arms and legs. That is what Daboll is there to help with. If the two develop a tight relationship similar to Williams and Johnson, success won’t be far behind.
