In Week 10, the Chicago Bears looked rough.
Facing off against a New England Patriots team that very few expected to earn their third win in Week 10, fans of the Bears watched on in horror as Drake Maye and company consistently moved the ball against Matt Eberflus' defense, with the final score landing at 19-3.
What gives? Has rookie first-overall pick Caleb Williams fallen back to earth, going from a strong Rookie of the Year candidate to a player who only put up 120 yards of 16-30 passing with a long of 18 against the worst team in the AFC East? Or are the Bears so darn dysfunctional that playing him can only hurt his ceiling instead of building him up into the future?
Asked this very question by reporters after the Bears loss, Eberflus shut it down, noting that he believes Williams can stand tall in the face of adversity, which he is experiencing plenty of it at the moment.
“Caleb's strong. He's strong inside. He's strong outside. He's a strong individual, and he's been through adversity,” Eberflus told reporters. “He knows how to do this. He knows how to get through adversity by pulling together. We've got to pull it together with everybody else, too. It's important we get that done moving forward.”
While Eberflus obviously isn't going to bench Williams down the stretch, as he not only doesn't have a better option but would almost certainly be fired if he pulled that maneuver, he does believe there are some areas where the young USC product can grow in the pursuit of NFL excellence.
Matt Eberflus wants to see Caleb Williams grow with the Bears
Asked about Williams' awareness in the pocket, which has led to unnecessary sacks through the first ten weeks of the 2024 NFL season, Eberflus noted that while he does want his young quarterback to keep getting better, even if development is never a straight line upwards.
“Everything is developing. He's a young quarterback. He's only played so many games in the NFL. Every experience is different,” Eberflus told reporters. “He's got to learn from that experience and that exposure. It's a developing thing. It's never going to be like this (upward hand motion) all the way through. Again, we're going through some adversity right now. The only way to pull through that is to pull together.”
Through the first nine games of the 2024 season, Williams has been sacked 38 times, which not only accounts for one sack every 7.7 dropbacks but also leads the NFL despite some players having played ten games instead of nine. While some of that has to do with his less-than-idea offensive line, which hasn't been doing its job very well, Williams, too, needs to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, as he's accounted for more than a few of his own sacks via indecision.
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