Bears QB Caleb Williams preparing for last start of season

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams will practice Wednesday for the first time during the last week of his first NFL season.

Interim coach Thomas Brown said Monday that Williams and all the Bears’ healthy players will face the rival Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday. The Packers are playing for playoff position, while the Bears, who are in the midst of a 10-games losing streak, have very little to gain. Still Brown said that Williams will benefit from making his 17th start in as many games.

Williams could also set an ignominious record. Williams has been sacked 67 times this season, the fourth-most in the history of the NFL. If he’s sacked nine times by the Packers — who are tied for seventh in the NFL in sacks this year — he’ll tie David Carr for the most all-time. Carr, another former No. 1 pick, was sacked 76 times as a rookie in 2022.

“It’s shared accountability,” Brown said this week. “I think obviously when people just see sacks, they’re just thinking about the offensive line in general, which is also just a misunderstanding of how football works and not watching football games.”

He met with Williams on Monday to stress what he needs to do to avoid sacks.

“How to improve, how to become better and the understanding of the rhythm and timing in the passing game, how to have more accountability from a pre-snap standpoint, diagnosing potential issues, pressures, and also kinda being able to anticipate some stuff from a post-snap standpoint,” he said. “But we’ve go to do a better job of protecting him as well at times, but also him being able to understand how to get through the progression a little bit quicker, seeing some post-snap reads.”