Caleb Williams on being decisive, preparing for Lions | Chicago Bears

Caleb Williams on being decisive, preparing for Lions | Chicago Bears

when you when you watch the film and you see some of the throwing inaccuracies, what goes through your mind when you’re seeing yourself play that way? Yeah, it’s uh it’s frustrating cuz uh like I said uh after the game is like you did everything up to that point right and then you miss pass. Um and it’s frustrating. Um and uh that’s something that we practice on, something that we get after and something that I’m going to keep, you know, getting after, keep correcting. Uh it’s passes that I feel that I typically don’t miss in in those, you know, moments and situations. And um especially with you know some of the passes being what they were and how wide open and um you know uh you miss and you move on and uh you correct and you know you find ways to get better. At the start of the second half those those three and out three straight misses. Did it feel like some of those throws that were off target kind of came in spurts as you watched it back and like were you able to put your finger on maybe why that was? Yeah, I think I think some of it uh the the the coming in spurts uh aspect of it. I think it came from you know something as simple as you know um you know the the the footwork and just being you know being on top of that and you know being smooth with that. Um, even if you know, footwork was right. It’s just being smooth with it, you know, not being hesitant, letting it rip. And, um, you know, I think, uh, that’s always something that quarterbacks need to have in their mind and something I always try and have in my mind is be decisive. Um, and decisiveness always wins. And, you know, when you start being hesitant, things like that, uh, you start missing passes and easy passes that, you know, you feel that you don’t typically miss. How would you describe your responsibility in the false start issues that popped up in the first half the other night? Yeah. Um, I think I think some of it is is um obviously, you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s on me being able, you know, maybe say it louder in the huddle or um, you know, maybe not be as aggressive on, you know, punching the gas on on the cadence or whatever the case may be. Whatever it is, um, you know, we’ll fix and we’ll handle and, you know, I’ll handle on my end whatever I need to handle and, uh, we’ll be better, you know, with that here coming up. What’s your 111th in in handling that going forward to make sure that doesn’t like I said it’s it’s it’s either saying it louder in the huddle um you know recommunicating it you know when we get to the line or or or whatever the case may be or um you know things like that small things like that you know goes a long way. What’s your understanding of what Ben wants you to do when you get out of the pocket? You know we’ve had coaches here who coach keep your eyes up, go deep. We had coaches say that if you’re going to run. Yeah. What are Especially the other night when you seem to take off a lot. What’s going through your head when you when you do that? Uh try and stay ahead of the sticks um and help the team stay on the field. Um that’s that’s big. Um being able to have possession timing. Um so uh when I broke the pocket, it was it was get vertical um and get down, protect myself. Um if I saw something, uh we had a one to roam. Uh if I saw something, one to I think it was um Coulson also. Um you know, if I saw something, hit it. If not, be decisive. Uh get downhill. Uh protect the team, protect the football and things like that. Caleb Ben said that you’re playing behind new offense. How long does it take for you to understand how comfortable you can be in the pocket and when to get out? Yeah, I think I think that comes with multiple reps uh with those guys. um you know and just being able to feel you know exactly when and where and um just being able to find I think it’s uh it’s something that uh people don’t realize or understand uh is is being back there you you tend to realize where the old linemen you know necessarily not weakness but you know their their typical spot of where they may give a little bit of pressure or not and so um it’s just being able to find that out you know with our group and and and where we’re at and uh we’re figuring that out here here you So, pretty soon we got a bunch of games coming up. Um, and you know, we’re excited about them. Excited about it. And guys, the guys did great up there. Said that he needed to call more run plays or needs to call more run plays. Might be a weird question to ask a quarterback who likes to throw the football, but does he need to call more run plays? Were you thinking the same thing? Well, didn’t say he needs to call more run plays. Uh, you know, Coach Johnson said that he needs to call more run plays and that’s what, you know, he needs to do. It’s not a me thing. It’s not a my decision. Um, I think I think part of it is I think we had in the first half our our run efficiency in the first half wasn’t as good uh compared to our second half and and how we picked it up. And I think that’s what he’s going off of um in that situation. Uh but other than that, if he said that he needs to call more, that’s what, you know, he needs to do. I know that as a quarterback, if we run the ball efficiently, it helps my job uh become not necessarily easier, but you know, opens up, you know, more lanes and things like that for me because now people, you know, have to come up and the defenders have to come up and defend uh the run a little bit more uh heavily and you know, allows us to take, you know, maybe a few more shots or anything like that. So, if that’s what Ben said, um and and coach Johnson said, that’s what, you know, uh that’s what he feels you need to do, that’s what we need to do. Caleb, how do you how do you process a performance like that Monday in the big picture when the whole off season, including the coaching, hire, personnel moves, everything has been geared toward helping you take the next step? Yeah, I think I think some of it is um just trusting and believing. Um, I think that’s that’s the biggest part of it is, uh, being able to trust, you know, uh, Coach Johnson and being able to trust the, you know, my teammates and things like that and, uh, you know, keep doing what I was kind of doing the first half is just, you know, taking what the defense gives me and, you know, moving the ball down the field and being decisive. Um, and, um, you know, it was there was a lot of positive um, that came out of that. Obviously, we had, you know, negatives and, um, you know, within that game that um, kind of how coach Johnson said, we made more negative we had more negative plays than they did and we lost the game. So, uh, it’s being able to find, um, you know, in those moments where, you know, maybe a drive goes bad and it’s being able to find those ways to, you know, kind of come back together, um, and go out the next drive and, you know, be efficient and kind of do what we did in the first half. After, uh, after last year, yep. Everything you guys went through and we’ve talked about obviously a lot how difficult it was. It be human nature to be like, here we go again, things are going in the fourth quarter way they’re going. How do you keep that out? Did you notice anybody players like could you sense tightness because of what happened or like how do you kind of avoid that thought process? Yeah, I think I think it’s being able to come together as a team um and especially as an offense and realize that nobody has to do more than you know what we’re asked to do. Um and that’s myself included. that’s everybody um you know on the team but also uh on the offense especially um is just being able to go out there and do your 111th um and we’d all do that at one point um on one play and then we move on to the next play and we do it again um you know typically good things you know come out um pretty good on the other side of that. So, um, that’s that’s the message. Um, if those moments come up or anything like that, it’s just everybody do their job. Everybody go out there and, you know, let’s do it at the same time, uh, when the ball is snapped. Um, and, you know, let’s see what happens. How loud Ford Field is? And Ben Ben knows it’s homecoming, it’s probably going to be really extra loud. Um, how comfortable are you with the silent cadence and how much do you think you’re going to have to use it? Yeah, you definitely got to use it on a away game, especially um, any end division game uh, that that that we’re going against right here coming up this week. and uh being able to uh use that effectively is going to be good for us. Um as you know, we’ve gotten I’ve had practice with us since last year and then um you know now uh through through training camp and you know this week we’re we’re going to be using it. So um it’s something you need, something you you need to use in in those loud environments. Um and you know I think you know we’ll use it effectively. In the fourth quarter on on Monday night you had the touchdown drive. There’s a shot on that play. He took a deep shot down the left sideline to DJ toward the end zone. Uh what was your view on that play? Did DJ convert the router? What was your your view of how that unfolded? Yeah. Um so that unfolded and um you know DJ DJ ended up converting and the safety was was tucked inside and um just ended up not being on the same page with you know the the ball and things like that. And uh he ended up doing a good job uh you know you know popping his hand up in the air and showing me and I just got to deliver him a good ball. uh probably a line drive next time and just get the ball in his hands um as fast as possible um and uh you know let him go you know be special from there. How do you get in sync on that? Yeah, that’s just complete reps that you know you get throughout you know camp season. Um and then just obviously communication and open communication between each other. Caleb has uh been talked to you about uh any tendencies that the Lions defense might have like using his knowledge uh for things that you might be able to exploit. Yeah, but I probably wouldn’t want to say that uh just because they may use that against us. So, I’ll keep that to us. With uh with Aiden Hutchinson, I know you didn’t play him last year, but you’ve seen plenty of tape on him as a quarterback. What do you have to kind of be aware of with what he’s capable of? Yeah, obviously he’s a great player. Um and and um coming off injury and he’s still super explosive. Obviously, you’ve seen the the clips of him and uh the game that they just played. So, uh he’s still the same player. Uh still very explosive. uh still a high motor guy. Um and I believe at one point he was the sack leader um before he got injured last year, right? Or Yep. Um and so just just being aware of him, knowing where he is um and being able to help the alignment, getting the ball out early um and and slowing him down in those ways. Um and then just being able to u you know, take care of him, you know, in our game plan. How do you look back at the at the last game there when you went there for the Thanksgiving game last year? How do I look back on it? Forfield. Yeah. How do you look at that now, you know, months later, a year later? Yeah. Um, good team. Uh, you know, made a lot of plays. They made a lot of plays. They came out with the win and, uh, you know, we move on from it. Caleb Pen was talking about how Flores blitzed less than we expected. In that retrospect, maybe he could have adjusted sooner. What do you learn when you go into a game plan and the team does something different than what you guys have prepared for? Yeah. Uh you you something that you learn from that is being able to adjust very fast. Um it’s being able to you know come together on the sideline and you know kind of talk about it kind of you know discuss after the first you know two three drives you start to you know kind of get a feel for what they’re doing. Um and you know they blitzed a lot less and you know when they when they did blitz um you know it put us in a good spot on that fourth down um towards the end of the game and uh you know but but other than that you you find ways to adjust and um I think uh I think we’ll do a better job with that you know throughout you know my career but also um you know these these next upcoming games of uh when we go out there and teams don’t do exactly what you know we thought they would or you know similar to what we thought they would and uh we just adjust faster and better. Caleb, do you know what your fastest recorded speed is? Uh, probably like 22 miles an hour at some point. I think you were over 20 on the the touchdown run. Did you have you done any speed work to improve that or is that just something that is a little bit unheralded? No, I’ve uh I think I’ve I’ve been kind of fast. It’s just I just choose how much speed I need to use to just stay as far away as I can from the defender chasing me. Um, in certain moments, um, you know, you you open it up and then certain moments you just, like I said, you stay away and use the proper amount of speed to just stay away from, you know, whoever’s chasing me. Do you have to worry about self-preservation there that if you’re going to take off and run, there are risks and you need to protect yourself. Yeah, absolutely. You do you do understand the position, you know, that you’re in and that I’m in. Um, and you know, you don’t if it’s fourth down, if it’s, you know, if it’s third down, game time or anything like that, you know, it’s time to go get the first down or, you know, if it’s fourth down and goal or whatever, you know, you know, we got to go get the first, you go get it. Um, and that’s that’s the mindset. But, um, in any other case or anything like that, you know, you protect yourself. You get down. Um, or if you’re going for the end zone, go for it. When you took a shot in the shoulder, were you trying to protect yourself? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I protect I, you know, tuck it close. uh tuck tuck my arm close and um you know so if anything happens it’s it’s you know everything’s tight you know to the body and uh protect myself in those ways and I’m you know I also I’m I am 230 so I’m a larger you know kind of condensed uh human so I do understand that and um you do understand who you’re you know you’re you’re attacking in those situations if you’re attacking a backer that’s you know larger than you Dline whatever the case may be safety you know you go down if you’re on a you know corner maybe that you know isn’t necessarily known tackling, you you try and go for it sometimes. So, just knowing the situation, those those split-second moments and going after it. Awesome. Thank you, the Bears. Thanks, guys.

Quarterback Caleb Williams addresses the media Wednesday at Halas Hall.

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