Bear Digest

Once Caleb Williams got the little things down the passing came easy

Analysis: The Bears quarterback always felt confident in his passing and once the Bears offense got past the simple stuff like avoiding false starts, they cruised past the Bills.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams looks to put touch on the ball during the first quarter Sunday night.
Caleb Williams looks to put touch on the ball during the first quarter Sunday night. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Coach Ben Johnson's conversation with QB Caleb Williams about the simple things seems to have solved complicated problems for the Bears.

Whether it was a meeting the two had about the sloppy minor things going on presnap or finally getting the chance to start repping the same plays over and over, it all showed up as success Sunday night in the Bears' 38-0 rout of the Buffalo Bills in preseason game No. 2.

The false starts and delay of games plaguing the Bears did not show up. Instead, what did, was precision passing.

"I think we felt we were at a good point with that," Williams said of all the presnap mistakes. "Now is the time to show results."

Williams connected on six of his first seven passes. He directed a big-play, 92-yard drive to start the game and found Olamide Zaccheaus in the middle of the field for a 36-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

Along the way, a big 18-yard completion to Colston Loveland got them out of a second-and-14 and a key 29-yard completion to Cole Kmet got them out of the hole they were in after a botched kick return by Tyler Scott.

"It sets the tone for us, this team," Williams said of the drive. "I think it sets the tone for how we expect ourselves to go out there and play and go out there and perform. Yeah, (the drive) was extremely important."

Williams expects he'll be past many of the small problems plaguing him and the offense now that the install of the attack is over. He reviews his own notes, he reps the plays, and he gets better."

To a month ago, I think I've grown a lot," Williams said. "Now my mindset is I'm going to keep growing."

The touchdown to Zaccheaus was no surprise. The two have been connecting in camp more often than any other passing combination. It starts with plenty of post-practice passing between the two."

It's been great," Williams said. "That's my guy on and off the field."

Johnson loved the precision passing but appreciated the little things far more.

Those led to an offense moving the ball 171 yards on the ground, even without their top three backs, D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson and Kyle Monangai.

They got 80 yards on 19 rushes from Ian Wheeler, 73 on 16 carries by new Bear Brittain Brown, and after Williams and the starters departed they got 24 points from quarterback Bagent and his group.

"That's what I was most proud of," Johnson said. "I thought our operation from break of the huddle to snap of the ball on offense and our communication on defense was really good.

"That was No 1. No. 2 was I wanted to see these guys play fast."

They made it to the end zone fast when Bagent came in against Buffalo's backups, just as easily as the Bears starters had on the opening drive.

Bagent took the 86 yards to Brown's 1-yard run. He hit Scott for an 11-yard TD pass and then directed an 84-yard drive to Wheeler's 1-yard TD.

Wheeler added a 10-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and Cairo Santos had a 40-yard third-quarter field goal.But the key to it all was the start and the long TD drive by Williams.

Perhaps now the somewhat false narrative of his struggles in camp can cease.

"I think I had a couple of those practices throughout the camp, I felt like, I took two steps forward, small things that I felt like I got over," Williams said. "Then I took a step back, probably.

"It's just being able to keep that mindset, the growth mindset. Keep growing, keep growing, keep getting after it."

Johnson has stressed this thought to Williams that not every day is improvement.

"He's really been locked in," Johnson said. "Any time you're a young player it's usually a couple steps forward and one step back. And that's really been the story of this training camp.

"He and I have been really open and honest about that as he's gone through. He's had some really good practices and, yes, had a couple where it's not good enough."

This week it seemed to change as the install ended and they were repeating the same plays over and over.

"I thought really the three days of practice we had this week and the game were the most he's stacked up good days in a row right now," Johnson said. "The challenge is to keep it headed in that direction."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

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.