Caleb Williams did not deliver in his first game with head coach Ben Johnson. The start was excellent. Chicago scored on their first drive. Williams looked calm and in rhythm. He was sharp most of the first half. Then the Minnesota Vikings made some adjustments. Suddenly, the quarterback looked lost, frenetic, and unsure where to go with the ball. Penalties made it worse. Yet what stood out the most was how many missed opportunities there were. Williams had several chances to hit big plays. Too often, the ball sailed on him.
Nobody is going to say this partnership is doomed after one game against an opponent that won 14 games last year. That is short-sighted. The Bears must see this through. Still, there are rumblings that Williams, for all of his obvious talent, may not have the mental processing speed Johnson demands. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune contacted an AFC general manager to ask about that partnership. While it can work, some concerns about Williams' style of play raise red flags.
The feeling is that Johnson isn't the problem.
“He’s got to be able to show growth to do the things that they were doing in Detroit — all the menu-based stuff. All the ‘check-with-me.’ Getting to the right play is something Ben does a really good job of, so it’s growth in that and running everything at the line of scrimmage.
“There’s no throw-away plays where, from your perspective, you say, ‘That looked like a bad play call into that defense.’ You never saw that in Detroit because the Lions were so menu-based, they could get into whatever they wanted...
...“You know Ben is a smart guy. He’s only going to do what he thinks he can do and what he thinks he can do well. The evolution of this is what people will be following. The two things to watch are, what are they doing? Everything is going to have a reason to it. Why are they doing this? And then what are they not doing? Because there’s a reason for that too.”
“From a league perspective, that is one of those teams that everyone is going to be keeping an eye on,” he said. “It might sound weird because this was a five-win team last season. But everyone had an opinion on the quarterback. He was a polarizing guy. Everyone had an opinion on that kid, and everyone knows how good of a coach Ben is.
“Can he make it work with this quarterback, who is totally different than Jared Goff? That whole dynamic, I think everyone is going to be keeping an eye on.”
Caleb Williams is learning how daunting the NFL is.
Reality is setting in. High school and college were easy for him because he was so ridiculously gifted. His talent is rare, making it easy for him to do great things against mostly opponents who won't end up making a living playing the sport. The NFL is a different beast. Everybody is talented, not just the players but the coaches, too. Speed is everywhere, and coordinators are constantly evolving new ways to confuse you. If you're not on top of the details, you get what you saw in the second half. Caleb Williams never quite appreciated that side of the game. He's just figuring it out now. The problem is he has a head coach who is notoriously rigid about such details. How many more times will he watch Williams check to the wrong play or not check out of a bad play before he loses patience?
Johnson didn't draft Williams. That is an inescapable fact we must remember. We've all seen this movie before. It happened with Mitch Trubisky, and it happened with Justin Fields. Don't think it won't happen to Williams for a second just because he was a former #1 pick. That being said, no decision of such magnitude will be made after one week of the season. Check back in November. Things will be clearer by then.
