In his 2008 best-selling book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell makes numerous references to the “10,000 Hour Rule,” which states that in order to achieve expertise in any skill, it requires you to practice such skill in the correct way for a total of around 10,000 hours. I don’t start with this anecdote to suggest that Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has reached that threshold. I bring it up because I feel confident in saying that I’ve spent the required time watching football in my life to know when a quarterback has ‘The Look.’
On Monday night, just two plays after the Bears were gifted a third turnover of the game when Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels mishandled a slick ball on a handoff, Chicago faced a 3rd and 5 with exactly two minutes to go in the game. Following two straight runs, Caleb Williams dropped back and coolly fired a pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland, picking up a must-have-it first down for the Bears.
Then, as Chicago was regrouping following the play, ESPN’s broadcast zoomed in on the face of Caleb Williams, and that was when I saw it.
That’s it. That’s The Look.
It’s the look you want to see on the face of your favorite team’s quarterback when the game is tight. The look you want to see from the guy relaying the next play call if you’re one of the other 10 men in the huddle. The look of someone who, as Ben Johnson put it earlier in the week, actually sees his heart rate go down late in games when the result is hanging in the balance.
Now sure, Caleb didn’t need to do much on that final drive, which ended with a Jake Moody game-winning kick as time expired. In fact, in his post game press conference, Ben Johnson revealed that prior to the start of the drive, he told Caleb, “tell the big guys up front we’re gonna ride the run game to the victory.” But frankly, this is all besides the point, because in my entire life, I’ve never seen that look on the face of a Chicago Bears quarterback before.
This feels like something to celebrate.
Are there areas of improvement that still need to be addressed? Of course. As Joe Buck and Troy Aikman pointed out during the broadcast, Caleb led the league in off-target throws heading into Monday night’s game, and he ranks only 17th in the NFL in passer rating coming out of Week 6. He’ll miss the occasional read, he stills holds onto the ball a little too long from time to time, his completion percentage is nowhere near the preseason target of 70 percent, and his emotions on the sidelines can overflow, as was the case last night. He’s not perfect.
But again, he has The Look. Right now, nothing else matters.
Caleb Williams Discusses Win Over Washington Commanders
In his postgame remarks, Caleb noted that he wasn’t the only one staying calm in the face of adversity. He gave credit to his entire team, all three phases, for not blinking at any point late in the game, whether it was when Washington took their first lead, or when they extended that lead to 8 points, or when the offense was tasked with coming back onto the field with the chance to win the game with just a few minutes left.
“Time to go win the game, and not give the ball back to them again,” Caleb responded when asked what went through his mind when Nahshon Wright recovered a Jayden Daniels fumble with just under 3 minutes to go in the game.
This was a mistake that the Bears made last year, and as everyone knows by now, giving Jayden Daniels and the Commanders the ball back with time left on the clock led to the Fail Mary play that submarined a once-promising Bears season. This time around, things played out differently, and Chicago walked out of Northwest Stadium with a euphoric win rather than a debilitating loss.
“I don’t think any of those memories necessarily go away, good or bad. I think you move on from it, but it doesn’t ever necessarily fully go away. Being able to have this good moment is great, but we’ve got a big game coming up this week so we gotta move on,” Williams said.
Like any great leader, Williams was quick to shift his focus to the New Orleans Saints, and he was also eager to hand out praise throughout his entire press conference, giving well-deserved shout outs to Moody, D’Andre Swift and the entire Bears defense. He saved his strongest praise for his head coach, crediting him not only with crafting Chicago’s offense, but instilling some of the confidence that allows him to step onto the field with The Look.
“He’s a mastermind,” Williams said of Ben Johnson. “Being able to have him, sometimes he’s on the headset and he’s like, ‘This is a great play call right here. Here we go.’ He did that today and he says that to me. He has all belief and confidence in himself, and then those little things actually provide confidence when you’re about to go call the play… We believe in him, we trust him and we trust our other coaches. I think that’s gonna continue and keep growing.”
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