GREEN BAY, Wis.— For all that Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has yet to prove in the NFL, he has left no doubt that his elusiveness in the pocket is elite.
He has gone from being the most sacked quarterback in the league as a rookie to having the most time to throw at 3.22 seconds, and while a majorly upgraded offensive line has played a big part in that, there’s no denying the effect of his uncanny pocket awareness and ability to slip even the surest tacklers.
The pocket will shrink to nothing, and sometimes a defensive player even gets their hand on him or his jersey, and still Williams slips away. And when he does, he’s equally a threat to take off running or look for a huge downfield throw, which Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said could require defensive backs to cover receivers for a whopping 12 seconds.
“The things he’s doing in the league are pretty hard,” Packers defensive end Arron Mosby told the Sun-Times. “You see multiple guys have him wrapped up and almost have him down, then he finds a way to get out of it. I don’t know how he does it. Not a lot of quarterbacks can do that.
“He broke two of my sacks last year. I came free on one and he spun out of it, and then the second one he ducked underneath me. It feels a little special when you actually do [sack him]. Being the guy that actually gets the sack on him is a little extra on your résumé.”
Williams managed the Packers’ pass rush well two weeks ago in the Bears’ 28-21 loss at Lambeau Field and took just one sack — from defensive end Kingsley Enagbare — and five hits. Star defensive end Micah Parsons got two of those hits, but will miss the rematch at Soldier Field on Saturday after tearing his ACL last week.
The Bears were down 11 points early in the last meeting before Williams and the offense gained some traction and pushed the Packers to the final minute. With 22 seconds left, on fourth-and-one at the Packers’ 14-yard line and a chance to tie or take the lead, Williams threw an interception in the end zone.
He finished 19-of-35 passing for 186 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for a 76.6 passer rating. He also ran four times for 15 yards.
Hafley said the Packers spent part of this week trying to simulate Williams’ pocket agility during individual drills “just like we would do with any rushing quarterback,” and he’s been emphasizing technique to account for Williams’ mobility and upper-body strength.
“You can’t just run full speed and try to launch at him and you can’t go high on him,” Hafley said. “It’s like tackling somebody in the open field. You’ve got to come to balance and not just take a shot, or he’ll duck and miss and spin one way.”
The Packers also have been focusing on keeping Williams “caged” in the pocket, as defensive tackle Colby Wooden put it, because they like their chances forcing him to play a more conventional game. They’re especially alert to preventing him from rolling out to his right.
Once he gets outside, it’s hard for defenders to anticipate whether he’ll run or pass. Williams has made some tremendous throws rolling right, like the stunning touchdown pass he threw to DJ Moore against the Browns, but also has five career games rushing for more than 50 yards.
“Caleb is going to get out there and run around, and we’ve got to do a good job of keeping him in the pocket and making him play quarterback,” Wooden said. “He wants to run around to throw. If he’s in the pocket, he struggles throwing from the pocket.
“If you push that pocket and close it up, he has nowhere to go, so we’ve got to do our job and close things off and get vertical in the pocket and cause havoc around him and make him uncomfortable.”
That makes it a tough task for Williams, but this is what it probably will look like the rest of the season. The Bears are playing strong teams after this in the 49ers and Lions and hope to follow those with a trip to the playoffs, which are never easy.
Beyond that, Williams has to get used to teams trying to take away his strengths and make him play a more limited game. He either has to find ways to circumvent their schemes or thrive in other ways. Every defense in the league will look to make him uncomfortable, and the best quarterbacks don’t let that stop them.
