Bear Digest

The False Assumptions About Bears Offense Caleb Williams Corrected

The Thomas Brown impact wasn't quite what plenty of media and fans though, says the Bears quarterback, and he detailed some of it in his Wednesday press conference.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams' 70 yards rushing last week wasn't necessarily part of the game plan put in by Thomas Brown, says the Bears QB.
Caleb Williams' 70 yards rushing last week wasn't necessarily part of the game plan put in by Thomas Brown, says the Bears QB. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
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When Caleb Williams ran for a season-high 70 yards on nine carries in Sunday's 20-19 loss to Green Bay, it was widely assumed the rushing yardage had been the result of efforts by new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.

Not so, corrected Williams on Wednesday at Halas Hall. It seems there are several assumptions out there about the ways Brown impacted their offense.


“No. Thomas didn't encourage me to run more,” Williams said. “He just encouraged me to get the ball to my guys and be efficient in those ways, and then from there, do that well, and then if they want to play a certain defense or play me a certain way and leave lanes open, I do have legs and I can run.

“Take advantage of that to help my team win and move on from there. That's the only goal of myself when I walk into a game is find ways to be able to keep us on the field, find ways to be efficient, find ways to help this offense score and help this team win and, so, if I have to run a little more, if I have to drop back and throw the ball, if I have to hand the ball off 40 times, it is what it is.”

Williams’ previous high had been 56 yards against Jacksonville. The nine carries matched his high total against Washington, when he had 47 yards.

Williams has 306 yards rushing on 49 attempts, 6.2 yards per attempt.

Although Justin Fields is widely recognized as a better runner than Williams, he has only had one season when he averaged more than 6.2 yards per attempt. That was in 7.1 2022 when he had the 1,143-yard rushing season.

Williams ran for 966 yards on 289 attempts in college but in college sacks and the yardage count against rushing totals. So he obviously had the ability to help with the running game.

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In fact, Williams didn’t see the change overall from Shane Waldron’s attack to Brown’s all together different. It was an attack devised with much more energy involved, but it wasn’t dumbed down for a less experienced rookie.

“I wouldn’t say they simplified it,” Williams said. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel for those three or four days that Thomas became the offensive coordinator and play caller. I think the decisiveness, I think all of that came from, one, our meetings, and how we’re going to do things.

“I think it came from being able to get play calls in faster and being able to get up there and not feel like you’re rushed or not feel like you need to hurry up and get the ball snapped and things like that.”

The devil was in the details, so to speak.

“I think all of these small things, details of routes, details of the blocking, details of the path of running backs and how we’re going to do things, I think that led into all of what happened last week,” Williams said. “Obviously, we didn’t come out with the win but how we played efficiently and physically, I think that leads into it.

“So they didn’t simplify the offense. I think it’s still the same. The Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursday are tough practices because it’s a bunch of new stuff, a bunch of difficult things, long play calls. We still have some like even today, we still have some 12-worders to 14-word play calls. So nothing’s been simplified but you got to go out there and execute.”

What is different is getting it all in motion quicker and the energy involved.

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.