Bear Digest

Does Caleb Williams Actually Need to Hold the Ball Longer?

NFL NextGen Stats had the Bears QB as one of the faster passers to get the ball out in Week 1, and Williams says he was rushing his pass drops.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams on Correcting His Flaws.mp4
Caleb Williams on Correcting His Flaws.mp4 /
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Despite the low passing numbers and lack of any offensive touchdowns, Caleb Williams remains convinced his debut was simply the typical first rookie effort.

Williams pointed out several mistakes he made in the 93-yard passing effort against the Tennessee Titans and is sees it as correctable by the game Sunday night in Houston against the Texans.

For one, Williams will be more comfortable facing a defensive look he has seen definitively on film. Last week Tennessee defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson was in his first game at that position for a team.

"Going into that game it was a little weird for me because it was my first game and we didn't really have anything on the D-coordinator, so it was a little weird for me," Williams said. "But when I got out there I was seeing it well.

"Missed a few passes, obviously, but going back and watching the film, I was in the right place when I was throwing the ball. I also had a few batted balls but going to the right places. Seeing it well, making some O-line adjustments and things like that, having good communication on the sideline with my teammates and coaches for adjustments, constantly communicating with them.

"I think the process throughout that game was well, whether it was mental or the small things on the sideline, like I said, communicating with everybody, I think that process was well. It was encouraging to see. Waking up, I believe it was Monday or Tuesday morning, you woke up and realize that you won your first game in the NFL regardless of how you felt of your performance. We won our first game and felt super excited."

It's a building block but the whole thing can come tumbling down if he doesn't perform better against a more formidable Houston Texans defense.

Williams pointed out several plays, in particular, he needed to execute differently -- plays he wishes he had back.

"There's multiple," Williams said. "I pointed out right after the game that it was around, I think, the lower end of four or five. I think it was around six throws that obviously, if we would have hit those, everything would have seemed a lot different.

"Throws that we hit in practice all the time on simple routes, on intermediate and then the one or two deep balls. If you hit those, the game, everything kind of explodes and things would have been said differently about how we played on offense."

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One problem pattern Williams picked up on was rushing as he dropped to pass.

"I would say the drops; sometimes I rushed my drop a little bit, not needing to," Williams said. "One specific route that I can think of is Rome (Odunze) when, I think it was a 10-yard route right over the ball, and I rushed my drop and tried to juice it in there a little bit and missed. I didn't need to, just trying to hurry up and get the ball to him, getting it in his hands as fast as possible so he can make magic and do what he does."

It's not surprising he felt this way because NFL NextGen Stats had him at 2.71 seconds to throw. That was the 13th fastest time in the NFL last week. Part of that could have been the effective Tennessee pass rush. The irony, of course, is coming into the league he was being criticized for holding onto it too long.

The solution is not rushing his passes.

Just making sure I'm trusting the drop, trusting the reads and things like that and getting through them," he said. "I would say that's probably the biggest thing that I'm focused on.

"And then my finishes on my play fakes or anything like that."

Williams went through his first transition from one game to the next, watching film and making corrections.

"He's been really good," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Since we watched the plays, him and I watched the plays. On Monday morning he comes into my office. Really good there. He was really good with the players, owning up to everything and taking responsibility for the performance and accountability.

"That's what you need from leaders on the football team, not just him. And moving forward—coming in this morning and figuring out what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and having conversations with him. I think he’s in a good spot."

It would seem Williams will need to overcome one other issue this week and that's a missing receiver, or even two. Rome Odunze appears likely to miss the game. He's day to day with a knee sprain, and Keenan Allen continues to be plagued by a heel injury. Both sat out Wednesday, although Odunze was able to do a little conditioning work. It might mean throwing to Tyler Scott or DeAndre Carter this week.

"Obviously, it's going to be same or a little different because Keenan's Keenan, Rome is Rome, but Tyler is Tyler, DC is DC," Williams said. "You know, they're all different in their own aspects, but that's why we have so many reps and things like that throughout training camp. We're going to get a bunch of reps with a bunch of different guys (at practice).

"Obviously, like you said, Keenan's out, not practicing today. So we're going to get some other guys (involved) and things like that, and you know, keep building that trust and belief and bond that we've been building that since I got here around 3 or 4 months ago, whatever the case may be now."

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.