The Packers think they’ve cracked the Caleb Williams code

When you play opponents twice a year, there comes a point where there aren’t many secrets left between you. The Green Bay Packers think that one game against the Chicago Bears was enough to figure out the 2025 version of second-year quarterback Caleb Williams.

Multiple Packers defensive players, as well as defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, chimed in on Williams’ game before Saturday’s crucial contest between the division rivals, which could decide the fate of the NFC North.

The theme was largely the same as last time: Williams is a bear (pun intended) to bring down for a sack, even if you have him dead to rights.

“The things he’s doing in the league are pretty hard,” Packers defensive end Arron Mosby told reporters. “You see multiple guys have him wrapped up and almost have him down, then he finds a way to get out of it. I don’t know how he does it. Not a lot of quarterbacks can do that.

“He broke two of my sacks last year. I came free on one and he spun out of it, and then the second one he ducked underneath me. It feels a little special when you actually do [sack him]. Being the guy that actually gets the sack on him is a little extra on your résumé.”

“You can’t just run full speed and try to launch at him and you can’t go high on him,” Hafley said. “It’s like tackling somebody in the open field. You’ve got to come to balance and not just take a shot, or he’ll duck and miss and spin one way.”

That’s why Hafley and the Packers coaching staff are preaching more control when going after Williams, both in the way they tackle him and the way they rush him.

But one quote stood out as far as where the Packers see Williams’ weakness, and they weren’t shy about pointing it out.

“Caleb is going to get out there and run around, and we’ve got to do a good job of keeping him in the pocket and making him play quarterback,” Wooden said. “He wants to run around to throw. If he’s in the pocket, he struggles throwing from the pocket.

“If you push that pocket and close it up, he has nowhere to go, so we’ve got to do our job and close things off and get vertical in the pocket and cause havoc around him and make him uncomfortable.”

There it is.

Even with Williams’ improvements from last year, Green Bay sees the key to beating him to be the same as it was then: make him throw the football from the pocket.

To be fair, it’s not a bad plan. He struggled doing just that two weeks ago, which is part of why the Packers jumped out to such an early lead in that game. Then, in the second half, the Bears leaned heavily into play-action and boots to keep Micah Parsons and the pass rush away from Williams and help him get comfortable throwing the ball.

This time around, Williams will have to prove them wrong—and making sure he can make Green Bay pay when he does manage to escape the pocket. Because saying you know the game plan to beat someone is one thing. Executing it is another. Williams and Bears head coach Ben Johnson know all this, and they’ll likely have some schemes of their own to counter them.

In the end, though, it’s up to Williams to carve the Packers up however he can.

More Chicago Bears News:

Joe Buck jumps into the Troy Aikman beef with Caleb Williams

Jadarian Price should be on the Bears’ radar in the 2026 NFL Draft

Why this analyst is bullish on a Bears Super Bowl run

How Caleb Williams is outrunning the ghost of Justin Fields--literally