It’s come to this: the Bears need their 22-year-old quarterback to wipe away the mistakes caused by one teammate and multiple coaches over the past week.
The Bears need to turn the page after cornerback Tyrique Stevenson flubbed his Hail Mary coverage against the Commanders, coordinator Shane Waldron goofed on a short-yardage play call and coach Matt Eberflus stumbled through explaining his late-game decisions. The fastest way to do that is for Caleb Williams, in only his eighth start, to play better Sunday against the Cardinals.
“I’m a big part of us and our next step,” Williams said.
Williams thought he’d taken that step in the fourth quarter Sunday. He posted a passer rating of 114.1 on the final two drives of the game — one ended in a touchdown, and the other should have, had Waldron not called for a handoff to a backup guard, who fumbled — after having a 39.7 up to that point.
He was inaccurate and out of sorts early in the game. Coaches were impressed by his late-game rally — “He’s going to make everyone around him have that belief that no matter what the score is early on in a game … we’re going to have a chance to win it,” Waldron said — even as they acknowledged his need to improve. Williams’ final stat line — 10-for-24 for 131 yards and a 59.5 passer rating — was his most punchless in six weeks.
“I’ve gotta do a better job, us leaders have to do a better job, leading throughout the week and being on the details,” Williams said.
The Bears are the worst first-quarter team in the NFL — no team has fewer yards per play or first downs, and only the Eagles have scored fewer points than their 10. The tension of the past week only heightens the need for Williams to be hot from the get-go against a Cardinals defense that ranks 26th in rushing yards allowed and 27th in passing yards allowed.
“We have to start fast,” Williams said. “We have to figure out ways to do that.”
Asking Williams to save the Bears after such a disheartening week might sound like an outsized ask for someone who hasn’t yet reached 500 snaps, but it comes with the territory. Quarterbacks become stars because they can blot out blemishes all over the field. The Bears could certainly use an eraser this week.
There’s a balance, though, between acknowledging that NFL reality and wanting Williams to play hero ball.
“There is no sense of one ‘Superman’ person on the team,” Williams said. “I think the trust and belief comes from your teammates being able to go out there and execute at a high level. It starts with the details …
“At some point I do want to be able to control as much as I can. I understand that is a learning process, I do understand that I don’t know everything, I’m still learning. [I have] both ears open to any coaching, whether it’s my teammates or it’s the coaches. Things they have seen things they have been a part of. Hopefully sooner rather than later, I want to be able to affect the game very differently in the games throughout my career. That’s a goal of mine. The ‘Superman’ thing comes from the details — it might look like one person but it’s all 11 of us going out there and doing our job.”
From Week 3 on, Williams seemed to make precise improvements in every game — until the loss to the Commanders.
Passing game coordinator Thomas Brown appreciated the accountability that Williams took this week. Sunday, Williams gets a chance to back it up with his play.
“How you respond to your teammates, how you respond when things don’t go your way,” Brown said, “is what you’re ultimately judged upon.”