Bear Digest

Caleb Williams Makes Most of Yet Another Losing Experience

With another interception-free day and 334 yards passing, Caleb Williams is closing in on some lofty passing marks by Bears standards while learning.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams eludes Lions safety Ifeatu Melifonwu in the open field while looking to pass in Sunday's Bears loss.
Caleb Williams eludes Lions safety Ifeatu Melifonwu in the open field while looking to pass in Sunday's Bears loss. / Audrey Richardson / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Caleb Williams still sees the value in standing behind center and taking a beating.

So the Detroit Lions defense provided it.

Williams fought the good fight and insisted he still learns when the Bears are trailing by 20. He learned a lot Sunday, then, because they were down by 20 almost immediately in a 34-17 loss

"Yeah, every snap is valuable. There’re so many different situations that happen throughout games that you can learn from and that I've learned from this year," Williams said.

He pointed to some of the gambles the Bears took and won at various points while down Sunday big as learning experiences, although they appeared pointless in the end. A 3-for-4 performance on fourth-down conversions said something for his line of thinking.

"Like earlier this game, we went to empty (backfield), it was the fourth down that we ended up going for it," he said. "Threw it to Keenan (Allen) and I'm

(talking about) on third down, and he ended up getting a positive gain, enough for us to go for it.

"That's one that

was pointed out to me in the game about playing efficient football. Playing and understanding

the situation and understanding, not trying to make a big play (on third down) when defenses are trying to drop

out and things like that. I think every snap for myself and for this team is valuable."

If it was as valuable an experience as Williams said, then it stood to reason the Bears would have been going for a first down on fourth-and-25 from the Lions 42 with the score 34-17 in the final quarter.

After all, Williams converted fourth-and-3 with a 13-yard pass to Rome Odunze just before halftime during a TD march, fourth-and-1 with a 30-yard pass to Odunze en route to a second-half field goal and fourth-and-7 with a 10-yard completion to Keenan Allen. Yet they punted on the fourth-and-25 and on the drive when he hit Odunze on fourth-and-1 they kicked the field goal on fourth-and-7 instead of going for it.

It almost seemed Williams came to play and the coaches weren't up for gambling in a meaningless, lost season so their QB could learn.

"Yeah, so those fourth downs, I think fourth-and-2, 3, 4, is a little bit different than

fourth-and-7 or a plus-and-7," interim coach Thomas Brown said. "Thought process (on the field goal) is really simple: Get points; stay in the

game; get your defense to get a stop and go out and score again.”

Brown doesn't equate gambling when the game is lopsided to smart coaching.

“Not at all," he said. "I think it it's about understanding the flow of the game, making smart decisions.

"And just going for it, just to say you're going to go for it, to me, is bad coaching. No, I don't think of
that at all.”

Williams' 334 yards on 26 of 40 tied him for most Bears 300-yard passing days in a season at four. At the same time, he ran his streak without an interception to 326 throws, good for sixth in NFL history for all quarterbacks rookies or otherwise.

His 3,271 yards on the year is the sixth-best yardage season in Bears history, and better than any season Mitchell Trubisky or Justin Fields ever had, as well as all but one of Erik Kramer's. It's Kramer who holds the record at 3,838. He appears destined to finish with the fifth-best passing yardage season but could probably get as high as third, behind all but one of Jay Cutler's best years, simply by posting a few 225-yard days to close the season.

Williams raised his passer rating to 89.3 with the TD passes he threw to Cole Kmet and Keenan Allen.

What he couldn't do was get a win or even keep them close enough so his coach could gamble on all the fourth downs. It might have been valuable learning experience for Williams' future to gamble and win again.

“Yeah, I'll be honest with you, I don't think much about the future," Brown said. "I’m trying to win the game right now, and so my mind is focused on the current moment, and then once that's over with, what's next. I don't think much about it.”

It's tough to see how you win many or learn anything punting on fourth-and-long in lopsided games, though.

It's easier to see why he doesn't think much about the future, though, with an 0-3 record as interim coach after 38-13, 30-12 and 34-17 defeats.

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.