Bear Digest

What Caleb Williams can't do with arm is done with legs and heart

Caleb Williams uses every resource available when it comes to the closing seconds of games, as the comeback wins start to stack.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams lowers his shoulder and drives for the goal line against Giants cornerback Dru Phillips (left) and, linebacker Bobby Okereke late in the fourth quarter on a key 29-yard run.
Caleb Williams lowers his shoulder and drives for the goal line against Giants cornerback Dru Phillips (left) and, linebacker Bobby Okereke late in the fourth quarter on a key 29-yard run. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Perhaps it's ironic progress how the Bears used to have a quarterback who ran like a running back or receiver, but now the team has one nearly as athletic in many ways but also passes and wins.

It almost seems Caleb Williams is the next step in progression from Justin Fields as a quarterback with athleticism, who uses his arm and legs but is able to win games in the fourth quarter

On Sunday, it meant the winning touchdown and the play that set up the touchdown on the previous Bears possession making a 24-20 comeback win over the Giants possible.

Williams' legs have made this six-win stretch over the last seven games entirely possible for the Bears by keeping their offense on the field. His passing has been spotty, yet sufficient.

His running has made up for the difference between his sub-62% accuracy and the 70% coach Ben Johnson wants.

"Yeah, I'll tell you, he looks like a Houdini back there in the  backfield because, like I said, that's a really good (Giants) pass rushing front that they've given a lot of teams fits," coach Ben Johnson said. "I think (OLB Brian) Burns is leading the NFL in sacks.

"There were times where he's trying to escape and making some things happen. He had a couple throws down the field, but ... over 50 yards again rushing for the second week in a row, and I thought in the fourth quarter there we really needed that as a shot in the arm to end up winning that ballgame. So credit to him.”

The winning 17-yard touchdown run was Williams reacting to  how the Giants had covered tight end Cole Kmet on a bootleg.

“Once I booted around, I saw that Cole got taken by, I think, a corner, and then from there I didn't see a linebacker," Williams said. "So I felt the grasp to be able to just keep it and going. Obviously having Cole in front of me helped, and Cole made a great block for us, and (I) just took it up the sideline and scored.”

The previous series also almost ended up in a long Williams run. His 29-yard bolt was 2 yards short, before he finished it with the 2-yard TD throw to Rome Odunze.

There was no thoughts about coverages or trying to stay in the pocket with the Bears down 10, when Williams made the mad 29-yard dash.

"It didn't matter how tired, how fresh, any of that," Williams said. "It was score, be able to get the defense back on the field and have them go get a stop, which they did, and then allow us to go back out there and have a game-winning drive.”

With two straight late winning drives and four on the year, whether through his legs or passing, Johnson is certain he sees a QB budding as a late-game phenom, the kind who can pull it out. That's a quarterback teams win because of rather than winning with him along for the ride.

“The more time we spend together, we watch the tape and we go over  every play in practice, every play in the game," Johnson said. "He and I are seeing it exactly the same. He knows when he should step up and try to just dump the ball down to a check-down right away.

"I thought he did that a couple times here today, and then other times where the  rush is on him pretty quick and he's got to do something special. That's the unique thing about his skill set is he's got that ability. As a play caller, certainly it helps me out because I don't feel like I need to be perfect with these play calls. He's going to make these things right. So that's the balance, that's the trust that we have as a quarterback and a play caller.”

Johnson has said it before but it seems like Williams' heart rate is lower at the end of games than it is for other quarterbacks, and he focuses. Williams has a passer rating of 100.0 in fourth quarters this season and was at 95.3 last year.

Not especially to criticize Fields by comparison, but he said while playing for the Bears he had to seek out breathing help for those big moments to try to calm himself down. His lack of success in fourth quarters—passer ratings for those quarters of 69.4, 53.4, and 61.3 in three Bears seasons—says it wasn't necessarily working. Only three fourth-quarter comebacks with six game-winning drives for his NFL career is low for 52 starts compared to Williams' six fourth-quarter comebacks and five game-winning drives for half as many starts.

Williams says there is a calm feeling in the pressure situations like he faced late on Sunday. He called it "living in the know."

“I can feel my body just kind of settle down," Williams said. "I think that's important for me when I'm out there in those moments but also the calmness, demeanor of when I'm in the huddle looking at those guys in the eyes and the belief, the faith, like I said, living in the known in those moments.

"It provides a certain level of confidence for us to be able to go  out there and deliver.”

Asked if he ever measured his heart rate in such situations, he obviously said he hadn't.

NFL Next Gen Stats has an assignment for the future, then.

Regardless, it had to be fast Sunday after he was running so far with the goal line in sight and bringing them back at game's end.

They could all do with something a little less nerve-wracking in a win after the heart-stopping finishes being produced this season.

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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.