Bear Digest

Reaction to Caleb Williams' Debut in Social Media and Song

The fans, media and even the musicians are reacting to the 4-of-7, 95-yard debut by Caleb Williams at quarterback for the Bears.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams moves out of the pocket with eyes downfield in his Bears debut.
Caleb Williams moves out of the pocket with eyes downfield in his Bears debut. / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
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Caleb Williams' first effort continued to capture attention even as the Bears got set to begin a week of practice culminating in Halas Hall and Soldier Field visits from the Cincinnati Bengals.

Much of this came from outside the general Halas Hall sphere of influence.

Unabashed Bears fan Kyle Brandt on NFL Network's Good Morning Football had Williams compared already to the all time greats, perhaps only tongue in cheek, but perhaps not.

Some of the talk about his performance had to do with his throwing. Some didn't.

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Williams' demeanor itself seemed striking even to the opponents.

In his training camp takeaways column, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer wrote briefly about the Buffalo Bills' reaction as he was in Orchard Park, N.Y.

The comment he got from a few was Williams is "the real deal."

"In particular, his command in the huddle, pocket awareness, poise, accuracy and instincts stood out to them," Breer wrote.

The calm demeanor under pressure was a note made by Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Wiederer via "X." He cited the "calm and QB feel" that he saw in Williams' play.

NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah commented on this trait as well as others.

"Poise, playmaking & arm talent. This is going to be a fun era of Bears football," Jeremiah posted on X.

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Probably the throw earning him the most comments was the boot pass to Cole Kmet for 26 yards. NBC Sports analyst and QB expert Chris Simms on the deubt: "Caleb Williams is just a natural."

Even Williams' incompletions seemed to earn him praise. Although he was 4-for-7, he hit the first four and then had Kmet drop a throw and DJ Moore drop one that was perfectly placed on the run to a spot where it had to be.

The last pass incompletion was even a good one. He had only one possible play as time was running out on him against the rush and threw it back pylon, where either Rome Odunze would get it or no one would. Odunze wasn't thinking the same thing as Williams on the play, but given more time to work together, it's the kind of play that connects.

The reaction from Bears fans on social media has been predictable, yet in this case understandable.

His 18 plays even seem to have inspired Da Musicians.

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.