Moving away from Justin Fields wasn’t difficult for the Chicago Bears. His ongoing struggles passing the ball and his expiring rookie contract made it the logical choice for GM Ryan Poles. They knew the #1 pick was in their back pocket. Every quarterback in the 2024 draft was at their disposal. After months of evaluation, they went with Caleb Williams of USC. Poles felt his arm strength, accuracy, improvisational skills, and hyper-competitive nature made him the right choice for a city like Chicago.
It wasn’t as simple as that. Various other details made Williams the right pick. Brett Kollmann, one of the best film analysts on YouTube, has strong ties to USC. He studied Williams in depth over the past two years and leading up to the draft. One huge strength that gets far too overlooked in his eyes is the quarterback’s ability to work the middle of the field. This is something that never gets talked about enough. No part of a football field is more chaotic and challenging to read than over the middle. Fields constantly struggled with it.
Kollmann explained to NBC Sports Chicago how Williams made it his strength.
Caleb Williams could open up the Bears offense like never before.
Over the past two seasons, Fields struggled whenever he attacked over the middle. In that time, he had ten touchdowns and 12 interceptions. For context, Lamar Jackson had 19 touchdowns and six interceptions in that area. Everybody loved to compare the two. This helps illustrate how far apart they were as passers. It was the same with Mitch Trubisky. He had 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in his three years as a starter outside of his rookie season. Even Jay Cutler couldn’t solve that puzzle. It’s safe to say the Bears offense can’t blossom until this changes.
Kollmann believes Caleb Williams is the one to do so. Plenty of film supports this. His field vision is strong enough and quick enough to pinpoint where the openings are or will be. He understands how to throw with timing and anticipation. He’ll have two pristine route runners in D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen, making these efforts even easier. It also won’t hurt having a 6’7 tight end. Life was easy for opposing defenses because they knew Fields was limited to throwing outside the hashes.
That advantage may be at an end.
OK, Caleb, as Nike says, Just Do It.