LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams spent the past six months working with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
This week is quite the shift, even if a lot of things are the same.
It’s hard enough to be a rookie quarterback — Williams has learned that over the past three weeks — now he’ll have a new play caller in his ear, Thomas Brown.
“The guy you’ve been trying to get on the same page with isn’t here anymore,” Williams said Wednesday. “So now you have to kind of adjust and you have to adjust fast because we’re in the division now.”
When coach Matt Eberflus decided to fire Waldron on Tuesday morning, Williams’ rookie season went another direction. The playbook won’t change. Much of the verbiage will stay the same. But he’ll go from sitting down with Waldron to listening to Brown, a straight shooter and someone Eberflus hopes will inject creativity into the game plan.
Brown can’t be asked to “fix” the Bears. But getting Williams to play at a high level is what should matter most to the franchise now. He can help them find those small wins.
“I’m not going to go into detail about what we talked about individually. But again, it was all a positive conversation,” Brown said. “(Williams) was receptive to it. Talked about what he can fix and be better for our offense. Clearly, obviously, quarterback’s the most difficult position, so we got to be better all around him, but it also starts with how we coach it, being more detailed, being more demanding with just him, but also with the entire staff as well.”
How bad has it been for Williams? Since 2000, he ranks 87th out of 92 qualified rookie starting quarterbacks with a minus-52.5 EPA (expected points added). The worst? Bryce Young, who worked with Brown in Carolina last season.
Brown said the two situations don’t correlate, but he isn’t unfamiliar with having to step in as a play caller.
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First things first will be the dialogue with Williams during the week, followed by the communication between play caller and quarterback on Sunday.
“I’ll always be myself,” Brown said. “So I am a pretty direct person. That’s what I kind of told him yesterday when we spoke for the first time, and I’ve obviously been around him, I’ve been in the room the entire time, but just in a different capacity. So I think on game day when it comes to how you deliver information, to be solution-oriented, to keep myself calm and also keep him calm as well to kind of decompress every single drive we have to look forward to what’s coming the next drive.”
Getting quarterback Caleb Williams, left, and receiver DJ Moore on the same page is a top priority for new Bears offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
The directness that Brown offers seems welcomed by the Bears’ offensive players. It might’ve been something they weren’t getting from Waldron, and the difference between the two simply by listening to news conferences is apparent.
Schematically, Eberflus mentioned “working the guys into open positions on the field.” The point of emphasis has always been “get the ball to your skill (players),” and Williams sees that happening with Brown to get some “layups.”
“I think we’ll do a good job of marrying everything up together and making everything look the same,” Williams said. “And then, from there, get a few easier passes, a few extra layups. I think that’ll help us in the run game. I think it’ll help us in the pass game, being able to do that. I think that’ll provide a little more explosiveness for us as an offense, being able to help out with complementary football and be a little more attacking.”
Test No. 1 won’t be easy. The Packers are fourth in the league in interception rate and sixth on third down. They are 23rd in quarterback hits, so maybe Williams will have more time to throw — especially if his starting tackles are back in the lineup. Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright both practiced in a limited fashion on Wednesday.
Interestingly, Brown’s best game as a play caller last year came against Green Bay. Young passed for 312 yards, two touchdowns and no picks as Carolina put up 30 points in a loss.
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This time, Brown has a better group of skill players to work with. And he has a quarterback who needs to rely on those players for production and to boost his confidence.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Williams said. “Obviously there are passes that you miss and are going to miss throughout your career that you’ll want back or that you want to make, and that’s why you work hard at it in practice and throughout the weeks.
“I think I’ve done well protecting the football, not turning it over, but I think getting on a better page with the guys throughout the week of practice, talking about routes, even if we don’t get maybe the look. … At least hearing it so when it happens in game, I’m able to rip it and throw it.”
Wide receiver DJ Moore said he and Williams talked Tuesday and that the quarterback is “in a good space, and I’m in a good space.” Getting those two on the same page has been a challenge all season.
Adding to the tumult of switching play callers, Williams might’ve noticed a report Tuesday that veteran players wanted backup Tyson Bagent to take over. Tight end Cole Kmet refuted the report but did acknowledge the frustration level.
“Guys are frustrated,” he said. “I’m not shy saying that. All this has been guided to helping him out and get him rolling again. We’ve seen what he can do when things get rolling and we want to get him back to that point.”
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Williams should start. Any idea of a “reset” for him by starting Bagent is misguided frustration in the offense. The most important thing for the Bears at this point is seeing progress from their rookie quarterback, and that only happens by having him play.
On Sunday, he’ll begin the final eight games of his season with a new play caller, and we’ll see if that will help put Williams on a better trajectory come January.
“I think from the get-go, everyone knows my thoughts on him and who I think he can be,” Kmet said. “For him, it’s been a tough couple weeks. Not where he’s wanted to be and offensively not where we wanted to be at. The main thing is trying to find solutions to help him out as a rookie.
“I know he’s the No. 1 overall pick, he is a rookie, and there’s a lot coming at him and a lot that he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Anything we can do to provide help around him, we’re all there for. We’re going to find solutions for him.”
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
