The Chicago Bears did not play Caleb Williams in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game. That meant that Bears fans had to wait until the team's second preseason game to see Williams for the first time. He did not disappoint in his preseason debut.
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is confident in Caleb Williams after a strong showing against the Buffalo Bills.
“It's the fruits of his labor,” Eberflus said, per ESPN. “He's been working his tail off in practices and even before that, all through the summer. It's good to be able to say that hey, all this drill work, all the things I've been doing, it's paying off and I can see the improvements. We're going to look at this tape and look back and say, what can I learn from this? There's a lot of things you can learn from this process in getting these reps, as he does in practice when he's going against the 1 defense.”
However, Eberflus isn't ready to say that Caleb Williams has arrived. He said that Williams still has plenty of room for improvement.
“There's certainly positivity there,” Eberflus said of Williams' debut. “We're not going to squash that. I do feel like we have a lot of work to do and a lot of things to accomplish as a football team, not just Caleb. We all got to play good around him. It's important that we keep improving before that first game.”
How did Bears rookie Caleb Williams look in his preseason opener?
Caleb Williams looked poised and under control in his first preseason game against the Bills. This was wonderful to see, as it translates to the regular season more directly than simple stats.
Williams displayed discipline and quick decision making multiple times during his opening drive. He stepped up in the pocket to avoid pressure and threaded the needle on multiple passes. Again, this is great to see because it shows that the game has slowed down enough for Williams to make split-second decisions.
He also flashed some of his improvisational skills. On one play, Williams was forced to step up in the pocket to avoid the pass rush. He eventually found D'Andre Swift on a dump off pass that resulted in a 42-yard catch-and-run play.
Eberflus has previously said that he expects Caleb Williams to play roughly half of the preseason snaps. If that holds true, we're about to see much more of Williams in the next two games before the regular season.
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