Caleb Williams' Improvement Catches Attention of All the Bears

From early struggles to getting beat and then giving it right back, the daily improvement of Caleb Williams has been apparent to his teammates on both sides of the ball. It was again Saturday.

Caleb Williams listens in with Shane Waldron and the QBs at Thursday's game in Canton even though he wasn't playing. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The usual up-and-down practice greeted Bears quarterback Caleb Williams when he got back to work Saturday after being off since Wednesday because the Bears rested starters at the Hall of Fame Game.

The Bears still haven't announced whether Williams will start or even play against Buffalo on Aug. 10 but he's making strides toward that eventual first game action each day.

A fumbled snap by Williams near the goal line in Saturday's full-squad scrimmage allowed Dominique Robinson the opportunity to make a recovery and the offense had been thwarted.

Then Williams fought back.

In a full-squad passing situation, he repeated a pass he made earlier in the week in practice. The first time it went down the sidelines against zone coverage to Rome Odunze for a 25-yard touchdown, except this time it was Keenan Allen hauling it in.

"We had that muffed fumble on the one and I thought Caleb came back in the next period, you know, real strong, three or four plays there, got some big strikes there," coach Matt Eberflus said. "I thought that was really good to respond the right way and that's what you've got to do as an NFL player and certainly as quarterback. That was good to see from him."

It's what teammates have said they've seen throughout training camp. Williams either makes big plays on the run or from the pocket after a mistake and all is forgiven.

When he makes mistakes, he's in coordinator Shane Waldron's ear trying to find out what he could have done differently.

A play-action intermediate-range dart over the middle to DJ Moore followed a long period of stale offensive play, then Williams had the offense clicking again in Saturday's practice, even though they eventually were stopped.

"He’s special, I'm not gonna lie," wide receiver/return man DeAndre Carter said of Williams. "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.

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"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."

However, what Carter has liked best of Williams' play has essentially been what Eberflus commented about and that is fighting back from mistakes and trying to learn.

"What I've been most impressed about him though for sure is just how engaged in wanting to get better he's been," Carter said. "Speaking on learning a new offense, for a kid coming from college where it's mostly hand signals and you know you're (calling out plays) on the ball a lot, having to get in the huddle and call the play, how fast he's come along and been able to pick that up and translate it to on the field. Just like any quarterback you're going to have ups and downs with it, but how fast and how engaged he' been in wanting to get better has been very exciting to see. Once he gets full control of the offense and gets comfortable in it, I always say, he' gonna be one of them Ones for sure."

People are gonna start to think that Caleb Williams is Italian with how frequently he’ll be going to Rome this season. #DaBears pic.twitter.com/KwFJbFJLbf

— Joshua Cho (@jbchoknows) August 1, 2024

The pass for the TD to Allen and the throw earlier in the week to Odunze came over safety Kevin Byard, who said in a game he would have probably been more physical in breaking them up. Still, they made the catches and Williams fitted in the right place throwing to space.

"I mean Caleb has made crazy strides since spring up until now," Byard said. "I've just been watching him, watching him in the huddle, watching the operation, watching him, how he's getting the offense in and out of the huddle whether it's hurry up, two minute, first down, first and second down, third down, I think he's making tremendous strides.

"I think if he came here and told you he'd probably still say he thinks the offense is a work in progress, I think the defense is still a work in progress. I think all 32 teams are still a work in progress. So I'm pretty sure he's very excited to get out there in the preseason, how many reps he's going to play in the preseason and whenever he gets to the first game I know he's going to be excited to get out there  and try to put the work that he's put in from the spring until know you know into a game. You know, I'm excited, I'm excite for sure to watch him but like I said he's making us a really great improvement."

Byard thought back to OTAs again.

"You know, overall as an offense you see every single day we're going back and forth," Byard said. "Kind of early in training camp, the defense was winning a lot of days. But that's usually normal. Normally the defense is ahead of the offense because we've got a new offense, new quarterback. So I really like what I'm seeing."

Now it's a matter of letting everyone else see it in a game situation, whenever that finally occurs.

"He's Russell Wilson 2.0. This is not gonna go over well."

— @AmaniAToomer sounds OFF on Caleb Williams telling teammates to clean up locker room pic.twitter.com/25IhwWzV0C

— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) August 1, 2024

Twitter: BearsOnSI