Williams on his preparation and progress, working on reading the blitz better |
LAKE FOREST, I.L. - It is official - rookie quarterback Caleb Williams will not be making his preseason debut against the Houston Texans in Chicago’s opener in the Hall of Fame game on Thurs. Aug. 1 (7 p.m./ABC).
While he is not where he wants to be, Williams says he is on track to be ready for the Bears’ regular-season opener against the Tennessee Titans on Sun. Sept. 8 (Noon / FOX). “I think I’m on track to be ready, exactly where I need to be and where they want me to be. I’m excited. Every day I wake up, I’m learning something new, and so, getting ready for the season, preseason, and these next practices, very excited, still progressing,” Williams said. “But, we’re towards the end of install right now for this portion, which is very exciting to know that not too long ago, I didn’t know really anything about this offense, I know a lot more than I did then. So, progressing, excited, and ready to go.” Training camp has certainly had its ups and downs for Williams. The Heisman winner has made some amazing throws resembling his college days, while on other days, he has thrown multiple interceptions. As a perfectionist, those mistakes are bothersome. But, he also recognizes how he responds and learns from those mistakes is far more important. “I’m always tough about the mistakes,” Williams said. “That’s the part about me, I think, that drives everything and being tough on myself, being tough about the mistakes that happen, whether it’s (missed assignments) or it’s actually a turnover of anything like that, just being tough on myself but understanding that there are going to be mistakes and how I respond to those mistakes” One area he acknowledged that he needs to improve is against the blitz. There are numerous aspects of the offense he needs to be able to manage, especially when he recognizes a blitz is coming. This is not an uncommon issue for a rookie quarterback and certainly familiar to Bears fans as Chicago’s former quarterback, Justin Fields, never seemed to progress in reading defenses and thus responding to the blitz resulting in him getting sacked 99 times in the past two seasons. The positive thing for Bears fans is that Williams recognizes this issue before he even takes a snap in the NFL, and so it should actually be solved with him. “I would say right now, working on my blitz (and) coverage looks and feeling the umbrella of the defense and feeling that out to adjust (protection), to adjust whether it’s a run, flip the run, run into it, flip the protection, get to a quick game, get to a cover zero, however the structure of it works out, just progressing and a lot of that comes with seeing it and reps and so, that’s why also, preseason and those things are so important,” Williams said. Williams has a lot more working in his favor than Fields did. Fields was not surrounded by an elite group of receivers like Williams is. In addition, Williams has an experienced offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron. Training camp provides ample opportunity for Williams and Waldron to enhance their communication so they are on the same page when the regular season arrives. “Him being able to just talk to me, communicate, explain what I saw, explain what he thought and thought should happen, explain what he was able to see from where he was standing and things like that,” Williams said. “I think those are always important times to be able to talk to your coach, pick his brain because when you’re out there and he calls a play and he has two, three plays that he sent in and whether it was alerting to another play, this and that and I mess up or anything like that, being able to talk and what he saw and just to be on the same page is really important when you get an offensive coordinator and things like that, sending plays into you. You want to be on the same mindset as him and I think that’s really important right now and progressing in that way.” The choice to have the starters, especially the starting quarterback, sit against the Texans in the Hall of Fame game makes sense, given that Chicago also plays against Houston in the regular season in week two. However, their second preseason game is against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, Aug. 10 (Noon / NFL Network), whom they do not play in the regular season. Therefore, there is perhaps a greater possibility of seeing Williams and some of the other starters in that game.
