The Chicago Bears face a challenge going into the 2025 off-season. Yes, they need to find a new head coach. However, it is slightly more complicated than that. They need to find a coach who is not just willing to work with Caleb Williams but is a staunch believer in what he could be as a quarterback. That is the problem they ran into with Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky. Nagy insisted he could work with Trubisky, but after just one season, it became apparent the head coach lost faith in the quarterback, leading to two years of tension and controversy. That can’t happen this time around.
If you spoke to certain people on Twitter, they’d have you believe Williams has been terrible this season. Is that view shared by prospective coach candidates going into next month? Not at all. Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog made it abundantly clear that Chicago’s young quarterback has plenty of fans.
Caleb Williams has done the Bears a huge favor.
His 2024 season hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been better than it has any right to be. Think about it. The young man lost his offensive coordinator and head coach in the space of a month during the season. He’s been sacked 67 times. Yet despite all of that, he cracked 3,000 yards passing, set the rookie record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception, and has a respectable 87.4 passer rating. Justin Fields’ was 86.3 last season despite taking far fewer sacks and having his coaches in place all year.
Coaches aren’t stupid. They can see the capability Caleb Williams has. The talent isn’t in question. What he needs is a cohesive scheme and better protection. If given those things, there is no reason to think he won’t have a breakout campaign in 2025.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
@ POOCHPEST
Very well stated!
@PoochPest —
GM Ryan Poles is an inept judge of NFL talent, proficiency, heart and value.
That ineptitude extends to the selection and continued work with his coaches, as well as his players.
Anybody who watched the games over the weekend must have seen the stark differences among: Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs versus D’Andre Swift; Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels as opposed to Caleb Williams.
Player acquisition, as well as player development and coaching are key responsibilities of the team’s GM.
I rest my case.
@Arnie — “Championships” [ ? ] As Jim Mora once said “Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?!” Before any championships — don’t we first, have to get to the playoffs? ____________ What I wrote was: “Playmakers win games; mistake makers ruin NFL seasons.” Not every player who makes a play in the NFL is a “playmaker.” Patrick Mahomes and Jayden Daniels are playmakers. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.are both: playmaker and mistake maker. All four of these QBs are also among their team’s “cornerstone players.” And those are the players that populate “Championship” teams — multiples of cornerstone players. ____________ The team that you… Read more »
@PoochPest And that only covers the player development aspect of coaching. The other piece, and in my view, the even more important piece, are the game planning, play design and play calling responsibilities. Coaches who consistently understand their rosters strengths and weaknesses, and puts their players in the best possible position win more often than not.
@Arnie I don’t fault fans and commenting here for not knowing how bad the coaches were, but I do fault Poles, Eberflus, Warren and McCaskey. We can’t get into practice. They can. But I knew the coaches were terrible last year simply because watching the wide receiver room, it is obvious Velus Jones, Tyler Scott, St. Brown Darnell Mooney were not getting better, but all of them were getting worse. I saw nothing from the running backs or tight ends or offensive line that showed all of them getting better – and the coordinator is supposed to manage that, with… Read more »