Caleb Williams garnered a lot of attention in his first start in the NFL in the preseason game against the Bills. Let’s be honest … Caleb has dominated the sports media headlines for a full year now, but he showed some encouraging flashes in game 1. For these reasons, we had big expectations going into his second preseason start against the Cincinnati Bengals at Soldier Field, his first start in front of the Chicago hometown fans.
The Bears clearly knew we wanted to see more of the first overall pick, and they came out throwing. They started the game with 3 straight passes and 3 incompletions. The first, an incomplete pass on a dash play to the left, the second came on a pass intended to their TE over the middle of the field, and the third incompletion came on a play where Caleb had plenty of time to throw … and still threw it out of bounds up the sidelines drawing an intentional grounding call.
To say this was not the start we expected would be an understatement.
Luckily for Caleb, Joe Burrow was not on the field for the Bengals, so he would get another chance to redeem himself on the next drive.
The Bears started the drive at the 30 yard line in a heavy formation, after apparently realizing they could not throw the ball every play. They ran the ball twice, setting up 3rd and 5, meaning it was time for Caleb to make a play.
Caleb dropped back and make a solid completion, but only picked up 4 yards, making his stats 1/4 with 4 yds after 2 possesions midway through the first quarter of football.. not great.
The Bears defense looked like it did in the 80’s, and thankfully, nobody died .. but Caleb Williams would get another crack at it.
Caleb Williams and The Bears offense started their final drive at their 22 yard line .. again, from shotgun. Caleb dropped back and completed a quick pass over the middle to Cole Kmet. Khalil Herbert got stood up on the next play and might’ve lost a yard, setting up 3rd and 2, manageable by most standards. Caleb tried to force the ball to a well-covered DJ Moore, and once again, the punt unit came onto the field.
Caleb Williams did show one flash of greatness in this game, with a deep ball incompletion that drew a pass interference call. He showed he has a monster arm, and if he can clean up some of his game (which happens with experience), he will be a PROBLEM in the league.
For full disclosure, he was later sacked on the drive, then completed a screen pass for a loss of a yard, setting up 3rd and 21. He finished the game by completing a 7 yard pass, moving the Bears (back) into position for an easy field goal.
Caleb ended up playing the entire first half, and making some impressive plays along the way. This most likely prevented the media firestorm that would’ve ensued if he did not make some flash plays.
After the rough start, he finished with a stat line of 6/13 and 75 yards 1 TD (rushing), with 40 of those coming on an amazing completion to Rome Odunzee, the #9 pick. Honestly, not bad for the first year starter, and Bears fans have got to be happy (can confirm, I’m related to a few).
How fast things can change.
Caleb Williams finished the half off with this AMAZING scramble and score. Wow the future is bright in Chicago.
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