Waldron on Williams' improvement, Swift’s stellar performance against Rams |
CHICAGO—Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron came under fire after his first few games with the Chicago Bears because of the team's lack of offensive efficiency. Before Chicago’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, the offensive leaders—receiver DJ Moore, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, and tight ends Cole Kmet and Marcedes Lewis—met with Waldron to discuss the offense and emphasize how they want to be coached hard.
That conversation seems to have paid off after the Bears defeated the Rams 24-18. Waldron found that meeting to be incredibly beneficial going forward, as it helped foster open communication between everyone on the offense and better take constructive criticism. “I think the guys being open to being coached hard, they want to hear the corrections. They want to hear everything that’s there, and I think for us as coaches, and it goes both ways too when you hear constructive criticism or things that you can improve on, the players having the ability to not put their guard up when they hear something that’s a positive correction,” Waldron said. “We don’t want to live in that negative state right there, and I think all of those guys, really starting with Marcedes, really embracing that and talking through things. He had a great rep in practice last week that we were able to talk through and something that he can think to do better, and I’m thinking, ‘Imagine this guy that just broke the all-time tight end games played record, and he’s out there out every week trying to learn and improve and get better.’ Good conversation and it leads to a great rep on the goal line, led to a touchdown right there. So, just a good example of that open communication, those guys doing a good job with it and us working forward thinking on offense, improving every single week.” Part of the improvement in the Rams' game was seeing Williams stay the check-downs. Against the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, he put the ball in danger, leading to costly turnovers. He seems to have learned his lesson from that, and checking down also led to getting running back D’Andre Swift going, as he had 72 receiving yards in the Rams game. “Caleb’s done a nice job of seeing what the defense presents and taking what the play gives him. The week earlier, had a chance to hit (rookie receiver) Rome (Odunze) down the sideline and explosive play action, another one on the deep cross because it was the look that was there. The protection allowed it and so, I think moving forward, it’s about not pressing to find big plays, not pressing to find explosives, letting them occur within the context of what the defense is showing each individual snap. I think defenses do a nice job mixing and matching coverage contours and front structures more than ever in the league,” Waldron said. “Caleb did a really nice job of taking a check down to Swift, and then all of a sudden, it goes from a first and 10 to another first and 10 on a check down. We know explosives will happen within the context of the game, but playing efficient football. That’s what’s going to lead us to playing good complementary football.” Chicago is paying Swift $8 million a year. When a player gets that kind of money, a team expects them to be productive. However, that is not how September started for Swift, who only put up 114 scrimmage yards in his first three games. So, when he put up 165 scrimmage yards and a touchdown against Los Angeles, it was a surprise. However, Waldron was not surprised because he saw all the hard work Swift had put in to make that game possible. “He never flinched, never blinked, went right into the next game with that workmanlike approach, and so, I think what we saw there was just the culmination of a lot of hard work throughout his career and throughout his life and not wavering when the next opportunity came,” Waldron said. “So, when the ball’s in his hands in space, like he had the opportunity on (a) couple screens there, another one on a checkdown, another one on a scramble throw, good things happen. He’s elusive. He’s twitched up on that first cut, so it was fun to see him have a couple more opportunities there to really show his skill set.” After every game, including a win, there is room for improvement. Chicago is not having a lot of explosive plays on offense and while it is smart of Williams to take the checkdown in numerous circumstances, there is a desire from fans to see some big plays, like the 55-yard reception by Odunze against the Colts. Since Moore was the leading receiver for the Bears last season, a lot of people are expecting to see him have some of those big plays. Waldron says that Williams and Moore are continuing to build chemistry and enhance their communication and this is going to pay off on the field; their touchdown connection against the Rams seems to show progress is being made. “For DJ, he’s done a great job of that communication aspect of that … Every great player should want the ball every snap. That’s part of being at that level and we want the best for him every single snap. So, part of that of some near misses so far this year is the communication part, talking through things,” Waldron said. “There’s always going to be some unique looks that present themselves on individual plays, and those are always great to bank those reps because it might come up this week. It might come up week 17, you never know when the next chance at that can occur. So, that’s always going to be the constant challenge for every single position on offense is to work through if something happens in a game or if there’s a window we’re seeing or if there’s a front structure that we’re seeing. How do we learn from those reps? And then, move forward knowing that good things happen when DJ has the ball in his hands, and we’ll continue to.” Chicago will face the Carolina Panthers this coming Sunday (Noon / FOX) as they seek to get their first win streak of the season and remain undefeated at home. They currently have the longest active home win streak in the league, with seven in a row.
