Sometimes you can’t win with people. Caleb Williams had a stat-filled day against the Indianapolis Colts last week. He threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also had three turnovers, though two weren’t entirely his fault. Predictably, many critics zeroed in on that to dismiss his performance. So this week, Williams focused on protecting the football. He went 17-of-23 for 157 yards and a touchdown. Chicago beat the Rams 24-18. Was this good enough? Nope. People declared it bust-worthy. Cole Kmet has heard enough of that.
The tight end has experienced plenty of quarterbacks in his short career with the Bears. They ranged from Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields to Andy Dalton and Nick Foles. It isn’t hard to tell which ones are capable of playing in the NFL and which are just talented athletes trying to. After the victory over L.A., Kmet went to his quarterback’s defense. He made it clear to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune that Williams’ performance was critical to the offense’s breakout in the second half.
“Huge. I think he does a good job protecting himself for the most part. I thought he played an unbelievable game too. I know everyone wants the 300-plus yards, three touchdowns. But that’s NFL football what he played today. He did a really good job of keeping us in rhythm.”
Cole Kmet knew Williams made the plays when needed.
He just didn’t throw a lot of passes. This was because the Bears had a lot of success running the ball, posting 131 yards. Chicago was also in a lot of short fields. Their average field position was the 41-yard line. Those conditions made stacking more yards unnecessary for Williams. The bottom line is that he was money on the Bears’ final three scoring drives. His nifty screen pass to D’Andre Swift set up a field goal. His dime to D.J. Moore in the back of the end zone extended a one-point lead to eight. Then a 22-yard strike to Kmet put them in Rams territory, setting the stage for Swift’s 36-yard TD run to clinch the win.
Good quarterbacks are often smart enough to realize when a more conservative approach works best. Early on, Williams recognized that the defense was playing great and the running game was starting to click. The last thing he needed to do was obsess over his stat line and press for big plays. He chose to play point guard, distributing the ball, moving the chains, and sustaining drives. As Cole Kmet said, it worked beautifully. Don’t criticize the kid for playing smart football.
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There are 3 things you want from a young rookie QB:
1) Protect the ball and don’t make stupid decisions to keep the team in the game.
2) Take what the defense gives you and move the sticks.
3) Make plays in critical situations, especially when the game is on the line.
Like @TGena said, Caleb does what is needed as the game progresses.
I believe, as long as he’s healthy, Caleb will become one of the best QBs in the NFL.
I would say “what do fans expect from a rookie QB?” but I know what they want—they want 3rd year Mahomes, which is understandable since the Bears passed on him. But if you look at all the great guys the Bears (and lots of other teams) passed on you will be sitting there playing your own version of Fantasy Football that could never come to pass. Williams is making throws we have not seen a Bears QB make, ever. Please don’t forget the lazy Grossman lobs to the flat that ended up as pick-6’s more than completions to his teammates–same… Read more »
It will be nice to see Caleb start hitting more down field once he dials that in. I think timing is off due to OL. But my biggest joy is seeing his quick release. That’s one thing I’m super impressed with how he has adjusted from game to game on getting that ball out quicker. Something that rookies really struggle with. To see him adjust this quickly to NFL speed speaks volumes for him. Now when he dials in his accuracy to that it’s game over!!!!
Shannon Sharpe is “country as it gets” in his delivery, and as smart a football commentator as you’ll likely find — he said this on “First Take” last week: Tom Brady would recognize, after each team’s first two offensive series, exactly how he would have play the rest of the game — in order to win it. The choices were: conservatively throughout — or, in full blown shootout mode. Caleb seems to have that innate sense of precisely what each game will require. _____________ @Slip Knotz hit the nail on its head with his takes (then and now) on Jayden… Read more »
Caleb is getting acclimated pretty quickly IMO. He’s made quite a few mistakes in the early games but he is really accelerating rapidly past that. I know some people are lauding Daniels success which is great too. And for the record, I considered it a dilemma to choose between the 2 Heisman guys + people downvoted me on that. I still like Daniels but I’m Bears #1 and I’m excited about CW. I watched the Kurt Warner review that T.Gena recommended and just watched the Chase Daniels review last night. I am a believer in Caleb. He is growing leaps… Read more »