Eberflus discusses game against Chiefs, Kiran Amegadjie, more |
CHICAGO—We have likely seen the last of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams in the preseason.
Head coach Matt Eberflus announced that Williams and most of the other starters would not be playing in Chicago’s preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Aug. 22 (7:20 p.m. / FOX 32 or NFL Network). “The majority of the starters will not play in that game. We feel really good about our process, the plan that we’ve had in terms of the range of plays for certain players, the range of competitive (reps). We feel really good about that, with our joint practices going one-on-ones the entire time. So, we feel really good where we are there,” Eberflus said. “We’ll look at some guys that have lower numbers, and (we’ll) have that discussion finalized later tomorrow morning when we do our participation meeting. But, (Williams) will not play in the game.” The Heisman winner finished the preseason with ten completions for 170 yards and a rushing touchdown. In the Bears’ only home preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals this past Saturday, Williams showed his ability to improvise when a play breaks down multiple times, including on his 45-yard toss to fellow rookie Rome Odunze and on his touchdown run. Eberflus attributes this to Williams’ natural ability to dissect a play and the two-way communication between him and the rest of the Chicago offense. “Once he’s learned the offense and knows where everybody’s supposed to be, then he can really start to dissect where the breakdown happened and what the case may be. But, he’s always done a really good job with that,” Eberflus said. “He can see a lot of things and chunk a lot of information on the field for sure. He’s always been great at that, understanding space and where people are, and he’s been really doing a good job of coaching the other guys and helping the other guys, and they’ve been helping him. So, it’s been a process of two-way communication. So, it’s been good.” Chicago was mostly playing at full strength in their last preseason game. However, they were short an offensive lineman in rookie Kiran Amegadjie, who has been recovering from quad surgery since before the NFL Draft. He was finally activated on Tuesday, allowing him to finally get some practice in. “We activated Kiran. Again, he’s working back in,” Eberflus said. “We feel real positive there he is in terms of his level where he’s at (individually) and then kind of working in from there and we’ll see how it progresses, so we’re excited about that as well.” Defensively, some still question if the Bears need another pass rusher to go alongside edge Montez Sweat. With Matthew Judon off the board after being traded from the New England Patriots to the Atlanta Falcons, there are not many options for Chicago to choose from if they want to go that direction. However, Eberflus does not seem interested in adding another pass rusher as he is confident in the players the Bears currently have. “I feel really good about where we are in terms with (defensive linemen Austin Booker) and (DeMarcus Walker) and (Dominique Robinson) and all those guys that are in that other spot, and those guys have different skill sets that they bring to the table, and those guys play really hard, and the first thing in defensive line play is having a great motor, and those guys have really improved, and they’ve done a good job with that,” Eberflus said. Last season, starting in week two, Eberflus called the defensive plays. After hiring defensive coordinator Eric Washington, it was expected that Eberflus would continue to do so. During the preseason, Washington called the plays, leading to some questions of whether Eberflus would relinquish the playcalling duties and pass those onto Washington. However, that is not the case, as Eberflus confirmed he will be calling the plays during the regular season. The regular season opener is on Sun. Sept. 8 (Noon / FOX) against the Tennessee Titans.
