Bear Digest

More Concern About Caleb Williams Focuses Attention on Coaches

Bears coaching staff's ability to support Caleb Williams comes under fire from college football insider.

Gene Chamberlain

Does new Bears QB coach Kerry Joseph have the kind of experience to be of benefit to Caleb Williams?
Does new Bears QB coach Kerry Joseph have the kind of experience to be of benefit to Caleb Williams? / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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Last-second concerns regarding Caleb Williams keep popping up.

Everyone needs to get their 2 cents worth in before the pick.

This time much of it is focused on the team he's going to throw passes for next season.

This time it's from Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman, the college football insider for The Athletic, and he did it in an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.

Feldman has closely covered Williams' college career and the worry he has is whether the Bears have in place the "infrastructure" necessary for the USC rookie to succeed.

This was a popular thought before free agency and before the Bears traded for Keenan Allen and signed D'Andre Swift and Gerald Everett, to combine with Cole Kmet and DJ Moore.

Now there are weapons, and Feldman acknowledges it. He is talking, instead, about the coaches.

"The issues are, though, you have a new offensive coordinator—unproven," Feldman said. "You also have—and this was a big deal to one of the NFL quarterback coaches I spoke to who said listen, it really matters who is in the room with a young quarterback. Because if things aren't right it can ruin the quarterback especially if they're being asked to be the savior.

"The question is going to be if things aren't right for Caleb who can he lean on, and who can tell him 'hey, you've got to do this' or 'you need to do that.' I don't know if it's going to land as well from the other guys in there."

It sounds like yet another national opinion not entirely up to stuff on the local situation.

To say offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is unproven couldn't be further from the truth. He called plays for three years in Seattle.

Unproven was Luke Getsy, who spent one year at Mississippi State calling plays and had never done it in the NFL when he came to the Bears.

Seahawks fans on social media had no great love for Waldron but it wasn't the offense struggling year-in and year-out while he was there. That's why Pete Carroll is no longer in Seattle.

Waldron was exactly what Feldman said was needed. He took a substitute journeyman quarterback and turned him into an effective starter, Geno Smith. This happened after he had to put up with the fall of Russell Wilson. Good luck with that Steelers, as Denver found out after Waldron had Wilson. Wilson's effective time in the league is in the past. 

DOES PREDRAFT CONNECTION BY CALEB WILLIAMS AND ROME ODUNZE HAVE MEANING?

If there is a reason to worry, it's Williams working with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph and passing game coordinator Thomas Brown. Joseph has been an assistant QB coach but for only one NFL season. Brown was an offensive coordinator one season for Carolina but his background was running backs. He coached tight ends one year but had eight years as a running backs assistant at college and NFL levels. 

In this regard, there is real reason for concern. They do have extensive experience in this offensive scheme, however.

Of course, he pointed out how Matt Eberflus is not an offensive coach. So no defensive head coach succeeds when paired with a standout QB? Bill Belichick might take issue with this.

Feldman's other points carry less weight. He suggests problems for Williams with the two backup quarterbacks he has in Brett Rypien and Tyson Bagen. Their lack of experienc doesn't give Williams someone to lean on for help.

Both do lack great experience. However, the Bears had Nick Foles and Andy Dalton in the same QB room with Justin Fields and it turned out poorly. Dalton still thought he should be starting. Foles thought he should be starting still. Fields was the starter after Week 2. It ended in Matt Nagy's firing after the 2021 season. Fields' development never really occurred, but blaming it on the quarterbacks room and the coaches removes any fault for the QB himself.

DOES RYAN POLES PREVER DEFENSIVE TACKLE OR END FOR PICK TO APPLY PRESSURE?

Feldman also expressed the usual extended play worries about Williams. He's not going to get away with doing what he did in college, holding onto the ball and waiting for a receiver to get open.

He said a coach told him Williams "...can do some amazing things and that's great in college but don't do that when Myles Garett is rushing. It ain't going to work. It's going to go really bad."

True enough. Fields found it out in two games with Cleveland.

The problem is, all quarterbacks face this regardless of what they did in college. They step up to another level and must adjust to the speed of the game.

If a quarterback has the talent to play in the NFL and stand out, he'll discover problems quickly and make changes.

If not, it's back to the draft drawing board for the Bears.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.