Bear Digest

Bears Work at Perfecting One Caleb Williams Strength

One skill Caleb Williams showed in college is something coach Matt Eberflus calls very obvious in practice, and the Bears are trying to help him hone this ability.

Gene Chamberlain

The Bears like Caleb Williams' arm angles but he practices one during warmups at Canton that they probably don't foresee him using—throwing left-handed.
The Bears like Caleb Williams' arm angles but he practices one during warmups at Canton that they probably don't foresee him using—throwing left-handed. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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Bears coach Matt Eberflus finds one aspect of Caleb Williams' passing especially remarkable.

So they're having him work at it even more to make him all the more effective.

It's how he uses different arm angles well while throwing on the move, the quality many have found comparable to what Patrick Mahomes does.

"It’s pretty exceptional," Eberflus said. "Yeah, he's pretty accurate there. He can really contort his body in different spots, in different angles. It's pretty amazing."

No doubt most questions about Williams coming into the league were about his ability to stay in the pocket at 6-foot, 7/8 of an inch and see downfield. This doesn't really solve that problem but does let him find throwing lanes some passers might not be able to use.

During 7-on-7 passing there are no defensive linemen but the Bears often will have someone holding pads up in the air to block off Williams' view down the field so that he had has to find his throwing lanes with those arm angles.

They're trying to sharpen his strength by letting him see where he can expect places to open up front to make a throw more possible.

"Yeah, that's by design," Eberflus said.  "We do 7-on-7 so we understand conceptually what the concept is. You look at the contours of the coverage, be able to show him where the ball is supposed to go and coach him off of that.

"But we started to implement those pads just to look, simulate passing lanes and different arm angles he might have to use during the course of 11-on-11, team and then in the game."

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The ability with strange arm angles appear most in practice on screen passes. Wide receiver DeAndre Carter has caught his share of those.

"Having a guy that you know can get you the ball regardless of what spot that you’re in or kind of like where he is, he’s got all the arm angles and things like that," Carter said. "Knowing you’ve got a guy who can get you the ball, when the ball’s supposed to be there, definitely makes it easier for you as a receiver.

"And then just being able to see all the different throws that he’s been able to make—arm angles and things like that is very special."

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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.