If you follow the Chicago Bears beat writers, the general sense you get is that the offense is having a somehow inconsistent camp. The defense has made it difficult for them to get anything sustainable going. Keenan Allen and Gerald Everett blame it on their unfair advantage of always knowing 80% of the plays the offense is running, something other teams won’t possess. Either way, the clunky execution has some worried about the type of progress Caleb Williams is making. However, his strong debut in the preseason against Buffalo alleviated those concerns.
The latest training camp practice on Tuesday was more of the same. Williams had some impressive throws but also some incompletions and an unfortunate end-zone interception to the long-armed Tremaine Edmunds. At the same time, the quarterback did something he’s begun doing on a regular basis in these practices. Once 11-on-11s shifted to the two-minute drill, Williams delivered a decisive scoring drive with a 30-yard touchdown to Rome Odunze.
This is not an isolated incident. Since training camp started, Williams has produced points in almost every two-minute drill. It has almost become routine, which may explain why the defense celebrated during the practice before the Buffalo game when they stopped the offense in that situation.
Caleb Williams executing in crunch time is such a big deal.
This is because the Bears have been haunted by their two-minute offense for the past several years. It was particularly bad when Justin Fields was the quarterback. With two minutes or less to go, he had a 44.8 passer rating. It is hard to win games when you can’t execute in crunch time. By the look of things, Williams has that capability. In hindsight, it shouldn’t be a surprise. This is the same kid who won a championship for his high school team on a last-second Hail Mary. He always seemed to have ice water in his veins.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
The last time the Bears had something like that was Jay Cutler. He had 16 comebacks in the 4th quarter and 18 game-winning drives during his run in Chicago. The guy wasn’t perfect, but he found ways to make things happen when they needed to. Caleb Williams is the same way. He doesn’t let a frustrating practice linger in his mind. When the time comes to deliver with time winding down, he keeps doing it. Bears fans should be excited about this growing trend.
