Bear Digest

Bears Lay Out Road Ahead for Caleb Williams Improvement

Throwing enough with receivers in the offseason to build a connection will be one of the keys for the Bears QB as he transitions into Year 2.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams had the fans stirred up in Chicago but too many low points in the season need to be eliminated going into Year 2.
Caleb Williams had the fans stirred up in Chicago but too many low points in the season need to be eliminated going into Year 2. | Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Those Caleb Williams and Patrick Mahomes comparisons from back before the season just won't stop.

At least this time it's not someone saying Williams playing like Mahomes, which his statistics obviously do not reflect. Rather, it's Williams trying to pay like Mahomes.

Bears interim offensive coordinator Chris Beatty pointed Williams to some areas to improve in this offseason and one is a Mahome trait to imitate."

"I think his footwork–speeding up his footwork would help," Beatty said. "I think those things. When you look at it, Patrick Mahomes gets so much depth away from the pocket and then he's able to step up.

"Caleb hasn't learned yet that we might need to get a little deeper in our drop to be able to step up and hold the pocket in the middle. Sometimes he steps up and ends up on top of the linemen. Those things you learn through the process of experiencing it."

It's very possible Beatty will coach his last game with the team Sunday but sometimes assistants do carry over from team to team. Either way, Beatty wants to keep helping the passing attack for the future, and one suggestion is something Bears quarterbacks and receivers have had a habit of doing in recent offeasons anyway. That is getting passers and receivers together in the offseason to run pass routes and throw.

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"It's going to be important for the people that are back to be able to do those things in the offseason," Beatty said. "There's the OTAs and everybody showing up for them, and some groups going out somewhere warm and practicing and getting their timing down and being able to see the same thing.

"We talk about that, as far as that we've got to make sure we get to a point where we all see first window, second window, third window (on pass routes) the same and not see it differently based upon where we are in the offense or in our location. I think those things would definitely help."

The windows in those pass routes will obviously be different if the offense is a new one with different coaches.

Beatty seems confident Williams will advance in Year 2.

"The greatest thing for Caleb is experience," Beatty said. "After that, you sit back and can say it was a little harder than I thought it was going to be. I think we all go through that. We come in and think, ‘we’re gonnga take this thing over,’ and you get humbled. This league will humble you.

"At the end of the day, you want to learn and make sure that my game is where it needs to be' before I start getting mad at everyone else. I think it's all a process."

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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.