By PATRICK FINLEY
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has lived through his first-ever NFL game and, just barely, through his first road start.
Now it’s time for Williams to produce firsts of his own.
The rookie yet to throw a touchdown or post a passer rating above 56. He’s yet to complete a pass longer than 27 yards, throw for more than 174 yards in a game or convert more than 63% of his passes.
Against the Colts on Sunday, he should eclipse all the above. In a game with no more built-in novelty than any other he’ll play the rest of the season, Williams needs to make loud improvement Sunday.
If he doesn’t, the sense of muffled panic among Bears fans will only grow louder.
“I’m excited for more,” Williams said this week. “I know the team is excited for more, and getting back here, getting back with the guys. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Fellow rookie Rome Odunze had a different word for it.
“He’s starving for it,” he said.
So are Bears fans. Even as the team asked fans to be patient with Williams’ development, it has touted the start of a new era since drafting him first overall in April. Sunday night’s loss in Houston, in which Williams was sacked seven times, looked a lot like Justin Fields getting sacked nine times in 2021 or Jay Cutler doing the same in 2010.
Play-caller Shane Waldron looked like Matt Nagy, who looked like Mike Martz. To paraphrase John Fox, it was all a problem.
Williams doesn’t have the same shared history with Bears fans — or their PTSD — but he knows the offense needs to pull itself out of the mud. That will take an improved run game and competent pass-blocking, particularly against stunts, twists and overloaded lines. But more than anything, it will take Williams starting to play more like the No. 1 pick.
He looked better in Week 2, but you had to squint. Williams threw two interceptions — “Two stupid mistakes,” he said — and had a third come back on a penalty.
“In the NFL, if you want to ride the rollercoaster, you can, but you don’t have to,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “You have to be steady. You have to make sure that you’re playing and you’re processing and those things are coming together.
“Caleb is 22 years old and going through this for the first time and he’s learning that process. He’s got a good plan. He just has to stick to it, go about your business. You can listen to this, that or the other thing — you can’t listen to the outside noise. You have to be right, do right and you’ll get the right result.”
The right result hasn’t happened yet. Through two games, the Bears boast the league’s worst passing offense and fifth-worst rushing attack. Showing improvement Sunday would change the narrative that, thus far, has painted the Bears offense just as inept as it was the last few years.
“We want to get rolling …” guard Teven Jenkins said. “Everybody wants that. Not only fans, but we want that as well as an offense. We’re hunting those explosive plays.”
Jenkins said Williams “hasn’t shown any frustration — he hasn’t shown any wavering to outside noise or anything.”
There’s plenty of it building.
“This is a one-week league,” Eberflus said. “You’re tested, every unit’s tested every single week with different skillsets, with different offenses, and it’s important that you’ve gotta bring it every single week.
“One week doesn’t lead to the next. You’ve gotta prove it every single week, and that’s no different for anybody on our team.”
Williams’ chance to prove himself — and improve himself — awaits.