Williams reacts to loss to 49ers, continuing to take sacks |
SAN FRANCISCO, C.A. - It has been a rough first year for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams in the NFL. He is now on his second head coach and third offensive coordinator.
In Thomas Brown’s debut as head coach against the San Francisco 49ers, the offense came out flat, and the defense let the San Francisco offense run up and down the field. “We got to come out and be better. It’s just totally what it is. We got to be more violent … We got to be on point, and that’s not what happened today,” Williams said. “We started to get something going, and I end up fumbling the ball (and) our momentum (started) going down from there, and they go score again off of that, and (you) have points off of turnovers, and you’re already down, it’s tough. Tough at the end of the game.” The fumble was a bit of an awkward play. When the ball came out of Williams’ hands, no one on the offense attempted to recover it. Williams threw his hands up because he thought it was an incomplete pass. “I was throwing the ball, and (the) timing was a little off,” Williams said. “I held the ball, and my hand was still coming forward, and it was ruled a fumble.” Brown was Williams’ offensive coordinator for three games before becoming the head coach. Those three games were some of Chicago's best offensive performances all year. However, there were some concerns that the offense would regress when Brown was promoted to head coach. That seems to have materialized, although Williams is trying to continue adjusting to the coaching changes and improving his communication with his new head coach. “When you have these promotions, when you have these situations that we’ve had happen with coaches being fired and things like that and promotions, people earn or are promoted to new jobs, and there are new things that they have to deal with … All the small things matter and so when you have to add more to what you’re already doing, and it’s something new, and it’s live bullets flying, (things) are going to happen,” Williams said. “Communication is going to be different than what it was in the previous position that you were in just (because) you have a lot more on your plate. But, I think we did well today with the situation that has occurred, and we got to keep going, keep fighting, and stand tall.” Another problem that reared its head against San Francisco was the offensive line. While not all of Williams’ 56 sacks are because of the line, they are responsible for many throughout this season. According to Williams, sacks are part of a strategy. On third down, Williams does not consider it bad to take a sack because it has the same end result as an incomplete pass—punting the ball. “The most important thing is first and second down efficiency, not taking sacks on first and second down,” Williams said. “First and second down, you don’t want to take sacks. Third down is now the time to make the play. We didn’t do that today.” Williams and the rest of the Bears return to division play to face the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, Dec. 16 (7 p.m. / ABC). The Bears will try to end their seven-game losing streak and avenge their overtime loss to Minnesota a few weeks ago.
