Bear Digest

Fast Start the Issue for Caleb Williams and Bears Offense

As players arrived Friday for Saturday's first practice, a fast start by everyone from the defense, to the offense and Caleb Williams has been called the highest priority.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams on Starting Fast.mp4
Caleb Williams on Starting Fast.mp4 /
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A sense of urgency permeated Halas Hall Friday with the full Bears roster together for meetings in advance of Saturday's first practice.

From veteran linebackers T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds to even rookies like quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Rome Odunze, the Bears say their intention is to start fast and arrive as a force when the regular season begins Sept. 8 against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field.

"The urgency, we got to get this thing going quickly," tight end Cole Kmet said. "There’s not going to be time to kind of meander through this thing."

How well they can achieve the rapid start will rest largely with the offense, since so many new parts have been added on that side of the ball but also and mainly because they have a rookie quarterback starting. This is the linchpin to the entire operation.

"There's definitely patience that we have to have with that," tight end Cole Kmet said. "There's gonna be a lot coming at Caleb here and obviously the OTA period is a good jump start for that. Now it gets real with pads on and when he gets through his first live NFL game, dudes are gonna be coming after him.

"There's a patience level to it, and there's also an urgency level to it and he's gonna feel that and that's just natural with the NFL."

With Williams, it's a matter of understanding the offense and what's required to run it better against NFL defenses than many other rookie quarterbacks have in the past in order to begin hitting DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Odunze downfield with regularity.

"I want to get it as fast as possible," Williams said. "Because it's not just for me. It's something we have to do throughout games.

"It's something we have to do throughout practice and keep progressing. So me being able to grasp everything I can ultimately just helps our team reach our vision for this season."

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Defensive players remember last year, when they stumbled half a season before heating up with the arrival of Montez Sweat. So Edmunds and Edwards say their aim is getting out of the gates from the start of camp, as well.

"Maine and I talk a lot, but even just last year, even for us, we want to just start hot," Edwards said. "I felt like we both agreed we got off to a slower start and we just want to hit the ground running."

The defense seemed to be there last year as the season ended. It's an entire offense being run in this system for the first time and by a rookie quarterback where the real concern rests.

During offseason work, Williams and the attack progressed.

"You could say he's ahead of things in the OTA aspect," Moore said of Williams. "But when we get out there in live action, we’ll really see the expectations and how everything flows, if it transfers over (offseason practice) or if he's going to have those rookie curves that you got to overcome.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how he attacks it and goes about it."

It could determine how fast they start, and as a result, how far they can go. GM Ryan Poles thinks Williams can arrive ready for the start of the season by doing one thing.

"I think I want to see just (see him) leaning on the talent around him as well," Poles said.

The talent the personnel staff has assembled for Williams is impressive.

"I think it's got to be comforting to know you don't have to do everything on your own, which makes it a pretty good situation for a young quarterback," Poles said. "There's going to be adversity and I just want to see him lean on all of us to get through those moments and then when you’re clicking and in the zone that those high moments are high and we just continue to learn and continue to get better every single week and every single day."

Coach Matt Eberflus realizes the need for speed from Williams but has a process they're following with practice.

 "I just texted him a couple of minutes ago about looking for improvement from the first practice to the fourth practice," Eberflus said. "We’ll take a day off and then we’ll assess where he is and we’ll do the same thing again for the next stack of practices. If we look back and when we get to the 50 days and we’re at the opener—he’s going to be from here, he’s gonna be all way here.

"So concepts were there in the summer. He did a nice job learning those—formations, motions, everything we asked him to do. He’s got to level-up from there and keep doing that during camp."

It's 51 days until the opener.

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.