Bear Digest

No Football for Caleb Williams in Thursday's Hall of Fame Game

Bears coach Matt Eberflus said he will keep Caleb Williams and the starters benched for the preseason opener at the Hall of Fame Game against Houston.

Gene Chamberlain

Practice is the only time Bears fans will see Caleb Williams performing for now as he won't play in the preseason opener.
Practice is the only time Bears fans will see Caleb Williams performing for now as he won't play in the preseason opener. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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Quarterback Caleb Williams will not get his chance for a debut in Thursday night's Hall of Fame Game.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus on Tuesday said neither Williams nor any of the starters will face the Houston Texans in the extra preseason game the Bears play.

"We feel really good where they (players) are right now in terms of the padded practices we've had," Eberflus said. "We've had three so far and then have another one tomorrow. And have a lot of good work, Ones on Ones, Twos on Twos, a lot of good situations.

"We got a head start there because we are in the Hall of Fame Game, which I think is very fortunate for us this year to be able to add those reps, time on task as we say to our football team."

Backup Tyson Bagent will start. He is currently involved a battle for his position with Brett Rypien.

This means Williams' debut in a preseason game could come Saturday, Aug. 10 at Buffalo in a noon preseason game, but this isn't certain either.

"Like I said it's week to week, I'm not making that pronouncement now," Eberflus said.

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Eberflus had said he wanted to get Williams 45 to 60 snaps this preseason.

"You got three (games) left to do that, right?" Eberflus said. "So that's always always a number that you're searching for, what we had looked at his year. It's week to week."

The large number of practices remaining and also the fact they still have three more preseason games and a practice at Halas Hall with Cincinnati Aug. 15 before their game is the reason for keeping starters sidelined.

"I do know we're getting a lot of good work in practice," Eberflus said. "Those are also equally as valuable and Cincinnati (practice) work is going to be also equally as valuable as those games because there you can run some more things and you're doing some different things there, too."

The Hall of Fame Game will be for the players at the bottom of the roster.

"It's a great opportunity really for the guys, the role players that we are going to have on our team and the fringe roster players," Eberflus said. "Those guys are going to be looked at not only by us but the whole league."

Williams came off of one of his stronger practices Tuesday as he hit D.J. Moore with a long touchdown pass and near the end finished a two-minute drill with a three-play drive for a touchdown.

First he hit Rome Odunze for a first down, then D'Andre Swift took a screen for 20 yards, and finally he found Odunze again behind safety Kevin Byard and cornerback Terell Smith for the 20-yard touchdown.

Williams had a poor Saturday practice but both of the last two have been strong.

"He's really made some big strides here," Eberflus said. "We're really talking about a massive amount of reps in the first eight or nine practices that we had, because we have it set up for the walk-throughs prior to practice as (media) saw today, and then also in the evening we had a massive amount."

The goal is simple for Williams.

"Him, really just keep investing, keep investing in the team in his way. His way is to know the scheme, know his fundamentals, know it cold, and keep operating that way," Eberflus said. "To me, he's really starting to pick up his leadership too. Because now he feels comfortable in the offense, you can really start to see him coach other guys, encourage other guys, bring guys together which he has done in the past and that’s a good sign too."

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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.