Bear Digest

Caleb Williams needs his speed directed in another direction

Analysis: Bears coach Ben Johnson sees improving basics still the key to getting his QB out of the inconsistent funk he had in Monday's second half.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams fakes on a scramble at Soldier Field Monday in the Bears' 27-24 loss.
Caleb Williams fakes on a scramble at Soldier Field Monday in the Bears' 27-24 loss. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

NextGen Stats had Bears quarterback Caleb Williams clocked running 20.45 mph on Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings on a 13-yard scramble to the pylon at the 1-yard line.

It was the eighth-fastest time any NFL player had running with the ball in Week 1.

No doubt coach Ben Johnson would like to see this kind of speed from Williams getting the team out of the huddle and also at getting the football out of his hand. A speedier development process might be nice, too.

Williams accepted some of the blame Wednesday for huddle issues leading to the five presnap penalties of the 12 flags the Bears had.

"Yeah, I think some of it is, obviously, it’s on me being able to maybe say it louder in the huddle or maybe not be as aggressive on punching the gas on the cadence," he said. "Whatever the case may be, whatever it is, we’ll fix and we’ll handle, I’ll handle my end, whatever I need to handle, and we’ll be better with that here coming up."

The other thing Williams is focusing on in preparation for the Lions Sunday is passing fundamentals. Simple, careless mistakes may have led to his stretch of 11 completions in 25 attempts after he started out 10-for-10 against the Vikings.

"Yeah I think some of it, the coming in spurts aspect of it, I think it came from something as simple as the footwork and just being on top of that and being smooth with that," he said.

Throws into the dirt, throws high and also wide were the result. The play when he threw a deep ball to wide-open DJ Moore may have reflected this.

"Even if the footwork was right, it’s just being smooth with it and not being hesitant and letting it rip," Williams said. "I think that’s always something that quarterbacks need to have in their mind and something I always try to have in my mind is be decisive. The decisiveness always wins.

"When you sing hesitant and things like that, you start missing passes and easy passes that you feel that you don’t typically miss."

Part of the solution is just getting the ball out when he should. Then his footwork is exactly as planned.

"When he was doing it properly, the ball came out on time," Johnson said. "I thought that he was delivering accurate footballs. But, it's still not 100 percent all of the time, and that's something that we're working through."

Williams is past the time when simple fundamentals should break down to the degree they did in Monday night's second half. His issues should be operating a new offense or reading the defense.

Success in Week 2 or subsequent games requires a little bit of maturing as a player on his part. He realizes this means counting on others to do their jobs is his job.

"Some of it is just trusting and believing," he said. "That’s the biggest part of it is being able to trust coach Johnson and trust my teammates and things like that and keep doing what I was doing in the first half: take what the defense gives me and moving the ball down the field and being decisive. There was a lot of positive that came out of that."

Johnson has no doubt he'll get where he needs to be.

"He's been consistent, really, from the springtime to training camp to now, it's been, 'Looking in the mirror, what can I do better?' " Johnson said. "He's very coachable. I think it's been it's been great. It's been a really good process."

It's just one that needs to happen a little faster.

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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.