Williams reacts to 8-game losing streak: "It does affect me" |
CHICAGO—In college, one of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams's best attributes was his accuracy. His career completion percentage of 67.5 is the fifth-highest in the Pac-12 since 1956.
The NFL has been a different story, as his completion percentage has ranged from 41.7 to 79.3 percent this season. “Some of it comes to the fundamentals and footwork. I think some of it also comes from the amount of reps that a rookie player overall (gets) and finding that feel (throughout) the games and throughout practices of the plays and so, when you get live bullets, you’re not thinking so much about those small things,” Williams said. “You think about a lot bigger things like pressures or coverages or the play and the routes. So, I think it just comes down to the reps and then footwork and fundamentals and just being in rhythm.” Time on task is a common phrase used to describe some of the hurdles a rookie must overcome, such as accuracy issues. The theory goes that the more reps a player gets, the better they perform over time. This has not applied to Williams this season as far as accuracy goes. This past Monday, against the Minnesota Vikings, Williams missed some key throws that could have changed the momentum of the game. “I hate missing passes, especially ones that I’ve been pretty consistent on for, I would say, a good amount of time. But, that’s coming and the progress has, over (this) football season, it’s been growing for myself of routes and combinations of routes put together and seeing all these bunch of different defenses and throwing all these footworks together,” Williams said. “So, the progress has, I think, it’s been on a steady trend upwards. But, I would say that it’s pretty frustrating on missing some of these passes that I’ve missed.” Completion percentage is partially dependent on your teammates. Chicago’s receivers have not been too bad about dropping the ball this season. However, when they face Minnesota, they seem to have problems with drops. When they played the Vikings the first time, Chicago’s receivers dropped 6.5 percent of the passes. Versus the Vikings this past Monday, the Bears’ receivers dropped 10 percent of the passes. Those are the highest drop percentages of the season. Critical drops contribute to losses, and the Bears have been losing a lot lately. They are currently on an eight-game losing streak, unlike anything Williams has ever experienced in his football career. Speaking with the media this past Wednesday, Williams opened up about how the losses are affecting him. “It does affect me. Losing, it’s one of those things that actually really affects me. It’s tough. But, I do have the (understanding) of where I’m at in my career and where I’ll be at and so, having that (understanding) is important for me, myself internally, because internally, it’s tough internally. When tough times happen, just human nature’s is to do the opposite of what you’re doing or what you’ve been doing or all these different things. So, the toughest part is fighting yourself and especially when there’s tough times and so, understanding that aspect of it and also understanding the position that I’m in. There’s a lot of growth. There’s also a lot of progress that throughout the season that has happened, throughout training camp and all of that that has happened and so, having all of that in mind, there’s a lot to be optimistic and positive about because I’m not my best self yet and that’s soon to come. But, I’m working towards that everyday and going to keep working towards that,” Williams said. “I like to win in everything that I do whether it’s cards, whether it’s playing video games with my friends, football games where we’re in battle and (anywhere) in life, I try to win and when that’s not happening, you got to find ways to keep going like I’ve always said, find ways to keep progressing and so, I think that’s been my mindset is finding those ways to keep progressing and stay optimistic because at the end of it whether I’m feeling down, whether I’m feeling like I’m hurting, nobody really cares and so, being able to keep growing, keep progressing, be optimistic about the good, even about the bad because even with the bad, there’s a lot to grow from and keep growing.” With how things are going this season, there is the temptation to look forward to next season. While Williams continues to focus on each game remaining this year, starting with the Detroit Lions this coming Sunday (Noon / FOX), he has also been taking notes about things to fix and improve on in the offseason for the betterment of his career. “Trying to stay in the moment, but there are things at time will go to my notes and write things down that I know I want to work on or know I want to get better at whether it’s routes, whether it’s defenses, whether it’s fronts and protections, whether it’s all of the above,” Williams said. “Taking small notes throughout the season and not trying to remember everything at the end of it, I think is something that I’ve done this year. I started mid-way through the year marking down some stuff that I want to get better at, staff that I want to learn and obviously, finding ways to still be in the moment, stay in the moment. But, understand that I got to grow and progress to be able to help this team and (the) Chicago Bears to grow and reach our goals and my goals (which) is winning games, winning big games, being in those big games and coming out victorious.”
