The Chicago Bears know their identity right now. It is running the football. Head coach Ben Johnson has crafted one of the nastiest rushing schemes in the NFL, and it rolled through the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday night for 281 yards. Credit for that success primarily goes to the offensive line and running backs. The front five dominated the line of scrimmage, blowing open holes almost at will. D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai did a great job getting through them quickly. Most people would think Caleb Williams has little to do with any of it.
That isn't true. Brandon Thorn is one of the best offensive line experts in the business. He pointed out recently that the young quarterback has mastered an art that many quarterbacks these days no longer bother to learn.
Ballhandling by the quarterback may seem like an easy thing, but there is so much subtlety to it. The timing must be perfect, which can be difficult when playing under center. Every toss must be able to hit running backs in the chest. Williams seems to have mastered this, which is no small thing since he only started learning how to play this way a year ago.
If that weren't enough, his efforts also extend to his play action facts. Each one looks the same as if it were a real handoff, which gets defenses to bite even harder. That is how the Bears got their game-sealing 28-yard touchdown to Cole Kmet.
Caleb Williams is doing the little things right.
The devil is always in the details. Peyton Manning has said he is frustrated with this generation of quarterbacks because they don't take handoffs seriously enough. Learning to make a handoff and play fake look exactly the same is a crucial part of running the ball and play action working in concert. Somewhere in the past decade, that art was forgotten. Yet it appears Caleb Williams is one of those learning to embrace it, undoubtedly with a push from head coach Ben Johnson.
It hasn't been perfect. There are other parts of his game that the quarterback must improve. His footwork in the pocket remains a work in progress and continues affecting his accuracy. Still, his influence on the run game can't be ignored. It would've been easy for him to go through the motions until he got to throw the ball. Williams has instead chosen to embrace it.
