This Monday night, as the Chicago Bears head to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Commanders, it will be the second ever head-to-head matchup between the #1 and #2 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft… Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels.
Both Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels represent hope for two franchises that have lacked that commodity for decades, specifically at the most important position in football. Not once in the long and proud history of the NFL’s oldest franchise has a Bears quarterback been named the league’s MVP, and in Washington, it’s been over 40 years since someone under center earned that distinction.
That man was Joe Theismann, who won both the league MVP and a Super Bowl title in 1983. Ahead of Monday night’s primetime showdown in Washington, Theismann joined Windy City Gridiron’s Bill Zimmerman to discuss the matchup, the state of the Commanders, and the progress of Caleb Williams under first-year head coach Ben Johnson.
“The first thing that jumps out in my mind is the growth he’s shown from year one to year two,” Theismann told Zimmerman. “Last year, he was a true rookie in the NFL, trying to survive. He thought he could outrun defensive linemen at this level. He thought he could get away from a lot of people. He found out he couldn’t, and he held onto the football a bit longer. What Ben’s got him doing right now is get back, get the ball out of your hands, and let the guys that are supposed to run with it and catch it do their jobs… I think this year, he’s been much more disciplined.”
The Discipline and Development of Caleb Williams
Getting Williams, who dating back to his days as a high schooler in the Washington D.C. area has excelled at playing out of structure, to play within structure was one of the points of emphasis for Johnson, highly-regarded offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, quarterbacks coach JT Barrett and veteran third-string quarterback Case Keenum heading into their first offseason of work with the 23-year-old QB.
It’s been a small sample size, but thus far, it looks as if the work this coaching staff has done with Caleb Williams has paid off. Williams has been empowered to take his chances with Superman plays here and there, but for the most part, Johnson and co. have asked their quarterback to refine his playing style just slightly in order to yield better and more consistent results.
“The guys with so much talent, their biggest strength is sometimes their weakness in that he can make every play in the book, but sometimes there’s some plays where you don’t have to go do all this superhero stuff,” Keenum told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. “Let’s take what the defense gives you and move on down the road.”
In order to get Caleb Williams more comfortable with ‘taking with the defense gives him,’ Johnson and co. went back to the basics throughout OTA’s and training camp, working on things as simple as footwork and pre-snap operations. There were frequent discussions between Williams and the offensive staff that helped everyone get on the same page, addressing what plays, formations and personnel groupings Williams is most comfortable with while understanding that these preferences will evolve over time.
For example, after having minimal success and experience playing under center in his rookie season, Epstein notes that Williams’ plays under center this season have nearly doubled from his rookie year.
Additionally, the Bears have leaned into 12 personnel groupings, which makes sense considering tight end Colston Loveland was their 1st Round pick back in April, and both Johnson and Doyle have experience as tight ends coaches in their past. Thus far this season, Williams is 24-for-39 for 266 yards, four touchdowns and a 116.0 passer rating on 12 personnel pass plays, making Chicago’s offense one of the most successful and most frequent users of this look.
There are still plenty of improvements that can be made, and in time, everything will get ironed out. Inevitably, things will only look better with time, but even with very little time together, things are already looking better than last year.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Former MVP, Super Bowl Champion QB Recognizes ‘Growth’ in Caleb Williams appeared first on Heavy Sports.