Bear Digest

Bears Bracing for Caleb Williams-Jayden Daniels Hype Machine

It's two weeks worth of getting ready for a battle between Caleb Williams and last year's No. 2 QB in the draft, Jayden Daniels.

Gene Chamberlain

Jayden Daniels gets set to throw over Ravens defensive lineman Brent Urban in Sunday's 30-23 Baltimore win.
Jayden Daniels gets set to throw over Ravens defensive lineman Brent Urban in Sunday's 30-23 Baltimore win. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
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Armageddon has just begun and should last for about two weeks.

Since the draft, the constant arguing about whether the Bears did the right thing by drafting Caleb Williams and not Jayden Daniels has been a daily if not hourly thing on social media.

The two will face each other in two weeks so from the standpoint of the Bears there are two weeks to stew in this hype and it doesn't seem conducive for a rookie quarterback's mental approach to such an important game.

Not only is it the Daniels comparisons of No. 1 in the draft vs. No. 2, but Williams is going against the team with Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator and the former Cardinals head coach was an assistant at USC last year in Williams' final college season.

Toss into it the fact Williams is from the Washington DC area and this looks like it could be a two-week build-up rivaling the two weeks prior to Super Bowls.

"So, I don't know if there will be a lot of outside noise going home, going back to his area, but again, we're playing the Washington Commanders and that's what it’s going to be all about," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Really, it's about our preparation and our focus."

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Eberflus thinks GM Ryan Poles has it right by referring to how Williams often "runs his own race," so to speak, and rarely has his focus affected by extraneous circumstances.

"Yeah, that's been our mantra since the spring time: run our race," Eberflus said. "That's important that it's always about us.

"It's always going to be about us, and we're focused on our preparation, our improvement and our growth during the course of this season. I think that's really what Ryan (Poles) was referring to. Welre all in that mindset. Growing one week at a time and getting better. Caleb has things he has to work on with the offense, with the offensive staff, and getting better individually, but also collectively as a group. That’s no different than the offense, defense or special teams."

The proof of Williams' ability to focus is in his statistical performance, Eberflus maintained.

Williams has risen from a 93-yard passing effort in Week 1 to now being 13th in the league in passing yards (1,317) going into Monday night's game. He is a nominee for this week's FedEx Air and Ground Player of the Week Award for his passing effort Sunday against Jacksonville.

He is 20th in passer rating at 88.7 after being in the low 50s two weeks into the season. His nine TD passes is tied for eighth in the league.

"Yeah, I think the way he's prepared going into it, from Week 1 all the way to Week 6, he's proven that he's gotten better every single week," Eberflus said. "We've gotten better as a football team.

"So, I just think that we're trying to keep doing that, so we know that in order to be good in this league, you got to be getting better every single week and we have to do that this week."

Actually for two weeks because they're off this week. And while the Bears get prepared for that Daniels-Williams Armageddon battle, Daniels will be playing a tuneup game against Carolina.

Daniels already gave a good account of himself in the Battle of the Beltway against the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson. Daniels put up a 110.3 passer rating with two TD throws and 269 yards on 24 of 35 but Jackson (114.47 rating), was 20 of 26 for 323 yards and a TD with an interception in a 30-23 Ravens win.

If all that isn't enough, Matt Eberflus is coaching against Dan Quinn. It was Quinn and former Colts/Lions head coach Jim Caldwell who were the finalists for the Bears head coaching job before Eberllus was chosen.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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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.