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How Caleb Williams Views Bond with Receivers After Day 1 of Practice

Last year's progress by a young Bears receiver group made it possible for the departure of veteran DJ Moore, and the Bears QB sees a much higher starting point for all of them now.
Gene Chamberlain|
Luther Burden III does stretching at Halas Hall. Burden and the young Bears receivers are trying to prove they can move on from being in DJ Moore's shadow.
Luther Burden III does stretching at Halas Hall. Burden and the young Bears receivers are trying to prove they can move on from being in DJ Moore's shadow. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

There is real evidence Caleb Williams is building the most important relationship he can have on the field, and probably the second most important one he can have overall as a quarterback.

Williams and his young receivers are getting in sync as they understand each other better in their second year together. Maybe only his relationship with Ben Johnson is more important to the Bears' success.

Last year it was a case of both Luther Burden and Colston Loveland coming on in the season's second half after injury comebacks had limited their offseason rookie participation. Their heads were still swimming as they started making big plays in the season's second half, but not now.

As for Rome Odunze, he was a lot like Williams in trying to figure out the offense and his part in it early but seemed to succeed. Then his broken foot took that back a step.

Taking the next step

Now the full receiver corps is trying to show it has progressed to a point where the Bears can succeed as an offense without their biggest weapon from 2023-25, DJ Moore. In each case, Williams sees the receivers progressing like he has in Year 2 under Johnson. Loveland could be the key, as the focal point of two- and three-tight end personnel packages.

“He can become the best tight end in the league," Williams said after Wednesday's first practice. "I think he is. But stats and us going out there and proving it is what it's going to take. And to be able to do that, we've got to put in the work. We've got to build the connection, hang out inside and outside the building, have tough conversations. Have open communication throughout the year and throughout camp.

"So it's going to be exciting. It's going to be fun. He's an easy target to throw to and I've got a bunch of those guys out there that are equipped and ready to go.”

Williams and Loveland are starting to communicate to each other on routes in ways they couldn't have a year ago as both were still finding out how to get through the offense.

"There's been times, I think in Cincy we had him on a post route and we came back," Williams said, referring to the 57-yard TD catch for the win Loveland made. "After the game, after we ended up winning that game, and came back and was like, 'If you ever see that with a guy out there and he wants to not believe in that, put it up there and give him a shot.' He's such a big target, easy target, runs the right route and nice routes. And then other than that, he can run block and disguise things. So he's an all-encompassing tight end.”

Williams' 121.6 passer rating when targeting Loveland was the sixth highest any NFL QB had for a receiver who had at least 50 targets, and the 123.1 passer rating he had when targeting Burden was the fourth highest. It's enough to make anyone wonder what they can do if they have more than about 10 games to work together.

In essence, both really only had that many games with Williams because Burden had been targeted only 15 times through Week 8 before he wound up with 60 targets. Loveland had 18 targets through the same week and then wound up with 82.

A big-play machine

Burden's big-play potential barely was tapped.

"Yeah, we all believe in Luther, the whole organization, his teammates, me, coach, coaches," Williams said. "It's up to us to put him to work, QB, wide receiver. And it's up to him to make sure he's in the right spot. And when he catches the ball, he said it one of his first times out, he's a problem.

"And so just got to give him the ball. He runs great routes. He loses defenders. He's smooth in his routes. So be able to deliver him a good ball. But I'm excited for him."

Burden did drop a pass coming across the field in practice Wednesday but also caught several shorter passes and turned upfield without anyone around him. The Bears hope to see more of that this year. They've seen a player committed even during the offseason to improvement.

“We have to go play games and he's got to finish this thing off, but if there's a guy that I'm really excited about it's Luther Burden because of just how much he's grown from the day he walked in this building," GM Ryan Poles said. "I heard he was just texting and calling these quarterbacks just looking for an arm to throw to him every day of the (offseason) week. The guy loves football. He's passionate about it. He wants to help this team win, and he wants to be the absolute best receiver he can possibly be.

"You can feel the fire inside of him, and I'm excited to see that show up.”

Fall of Rome?

Figuring out how Odunze fits into that might be the actual mystery, even though he has worked longer with Williams' than the other two. That's because last year Odunze's target share dropped drastically as Loveland's and Burden's increased greatly. Odunze's foot injury had much to do with this, but there are only so many passes to throw in this offense that's based on the run and play-action. So what will happen with all of them back available? It's easy to see why the Bears considered Moore not only expendable but even an obstacle to young, blossoming talent considering he had 96 targets.

Odunze was averaging eight targets a game through the first seven weeks. He then averaged 3.1 the remainder of the year, although he didn't even play in six of those 11 weeks. His target average for the five games he played still dropped drastically to 6.8 from 8.0.

Odunze had said during the offseason that he has to get used to the new normal with his foot feeling different after it healed from being broken.

"Like you said, it's his new normal, and that's OK, and it doesn't look any different," Williams said. "That's what he said, but it doesn't look any different out there.

"He looks like normal Rome Odunze. My thing is just ensuring confidence that the ball will come to him, run a nice route, create a little separation, I'll put the ball where the ball needs to be. And then if I don't, we drafted you really high for a certain reason because you're special and so go make that catch."

The receiver group has the past production and the quarterback who can make it happen.

Now it's a matter of doing it without the veteran presence Moore provided. It's on their QB to provide that guidance now.

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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.