Why this season is Caleb Williams’ LAST CHANCE w/ Chicago Bears & Ben Johnson | Colin Cowherd NFL

Why this season is Caleb Williams’ LAST CHANCE w/ Chicago Bears & Ben Johnson | Colin Cowherd NFL

Welcome to the official YouTube channel for the Colin Coward podcast. Go on, hit that subscribe button if you’re new so you don’t miss any of our great football content this season. All right, there’s a lot to talk about. Is Brian Kelly going to get fired at LSU? Who’s guaranteed to draft a quarterback in the first round? And the Saints have to be one of them along with the Raiders, Jets, and Cleveland. Let’s start with the Ravens 30, Bears 16. So, the bet of the weekend, all the sharps, was Baltimore with Lamar Jackson over Caleb and the Bears on the road. And then he doesn’t play. And I thought to myself, I’m just going to let it see let it see it play out. Rocoan Smith is back. They’re healthier. And you know, let’s be honest, Tyler Huntley’s been around. I thought it was really smart game plan. I thought Huntley outplayed Caleb Williams, although he’s not nearly as spectacular. They didn’t ask him to do as much. And there there’s become a disturbing trend with the Bears. John Middle joining me, former NFL scout, is that this year in the first quarter, the Bears plus 22 point differential. Caleb 71% completion percentage. He’s mostly on script. Quarters two through four, 58% completion percentage for Caleb Williams. Minus 39 point differential. When the game gets off script, the coach and Caleb early, they take leads. Remember last year they couldn’t score in the first quarter. But I’m watching this game and my take is the backup for Baltimore didn’t make mistakes. Took what was there. Very safe game plan. Yeah, I’ll say this again. Caleb, in my opinion, is never going to be an accurate, consistently accurate thrower of the football in this league. Am I too harsh? No. Well, and if he’s not, he’s not going to work with Ben Johnson. I mean, the thing that hit me today, and let’s face it, the elephant in the room now for several weeks. He has not played well. Their team has, the running back has played well, and the defense has played well. The quarterback has not. Ben Johnson became a star in the league with Jared Goff, who excelled with a couple things. timing and touch, getting rid of the ball and hitting guys so they could make moves after. How many times today with Caleb guys in the flat, even on completions, they have to stop and catch a B. You can’t function. You saw Bo Knicks, obviously the Cowboys defense is atrocious. It’s you’re going to hit or miss and he’s missing a lot of deep balls, but if you hit the basic stuff in the flat, some basic out routes, any offense can function, right? It’s the NFL is not high school football. It’s not a These huge explosive plays are pretty overrated. Caleb hit one today scrambling around and threw it over the side to to uh to uh DJ Moore. DJ Moore. I mean that’s just an individual play as spectacular of a play as you’re going to see bad Sunday, but still I mean it was remarkable. That’s not the NFL. The NFL is like second and eight. Can you just complete that six yard so you’re third and two instead of third and eight? And Caleb simply cannot. Timing and touch Colin terrible there. There’s no rhythm to his game. He has he to me it’s like the struggle between it’s like watching a pitcher who has no change up or off speed, but his fast ball is all over the map. 11 penalties. Um you know he and Roma Dunay have a real relationship. That is true. But I thought today is when you take away the takeaways, the Bears have had a formula. We take the ball away, we steal field position. Yeah. and we run the football and then Caleb on those first couple series when he’s scripted we take a lead and we kind of play downhill today they played a much better coach by the way John Harbaugh is 15 and3 off a buy uh I thought Baltimore’s play calling today John it was Andy Reedlike they had Chicago guessing constantly and I just watched it and I thought to myself when they don’t get the turnovers they’re just not even operationally good enough or even the underneath stuff. It’s just not good enough. They have to run the ball and take the ball away to win this league. Well, one big story on the internet, right, was this Lamar Jackson, was he going to play? Was he not going to play? And a big difference, and I saw like Florio trying to parallel to the NBA situation. The difference is in the NFL, the reason Lamar couldn’t play cuz he’s not healthy. And in the NBA, guys are getting they’re trying to tank and actively lose games. Whether a guy plays or doesn’t play in the NFL, the team you’re playing, even if they’re as terrible as Tennessee, is still going to really try, right? And Baltimore, let’s face it, like their season’s kind of on the line because of how they started poorly. So, you’re going to get a good spirited effort. And their backup quarterback has played before now. I I like Jake Browning. Anyone that watched Tyler Huntley play at Utah, stunned that he’s still around, but it shows you guys can mature and get better late, get in the right situation, more of a running offense. He had some big played with a lead. Yeah, for sure. It was It was really impressive. But to me, the story with the Bears, I I watch Ben Johnson calling plays. I think he’s good. I I their defense obviously the the takeaways speak for themselves this year. I I think Caleb isn’t remotely a good player. He’s a talented physic, you know, physically he’s got a lot of gifts, but in terms of playing the quarterback position, I I I I think he’s borderline not even average. Like I that’s a problem. And this is now year two. I know you drafted him year one. I know this is the first year with a coach, but you don’t just get We’ve been talking about this. You don’t get forever. I I would say 2026, this keeps going like this. Got major question marks surrounding it for sure. Yeah. Quarters 2, three, and four. And first quarter leads are important, but quarters 2, three, and four, he completes 58% of his throws. And I’m I watch Bo Knicks. Now, it’s the Cowboys, but Bo Nicks underneath 18 yards and in is a stud. I mean, he he he’s he’s got a strong arm. And by the way, uh they routed the Cowboys. We’ll get to that in a second, but I mean, he it would have been worse, but guys were dropping balls. So, I I don’t know. It’s just people in What about the Caleb pocket? you know, he just takes off a lot of the time. I I can’t imagine the head coach who again just played with a guy who can’t run as fast as me and you and they were winning 15 games a year. He’s not looking for his quarterback when the first read isn’t there to start running sideline to sideline and it it feels like he’s kind of a throwback to like 2015 Russell Wilson, but Russell made a lot of plays when he scrambled around. Caleb simply does not. So, you’re not getting the instructure stuff, which is I’m sure Ben Johnson’s like that’s his bread and butter. I mean, right? That’s that’s the way he’s built his career, uh, you know, over the last several years. And then all the scramble around stuff, which I would imagine if we got an offensive line coach or an offensive coordinator, they would say half those he does not need to be doing it. But if you are going to do it, you better hit some big plays. And he’s not doing that. Yeah. I mean, I I I’m looking at my copious notes here. And you know, I’m, you know, Tyler Huntley, great late fourth quarter drive at that point, 186 yards passing, 55 yards rushing. Derrick Henry touchdown. You know, again, you’re talking about an elite coach, a desperate team at home. It’s it’s the reason the Sharps were all on this. But it was really interesting because at half it was 106 Baltimore. And I’m like, God, they’re the better team. This is not a mirage. I mean, at half Huntley was 12 of 13. I mean, it was just like throwing catch, passing catch. So, I think I think there are real issues here. I I I’ve said this before. Watch Ben Johnson’s body language, John. It’s not good. He’s frustrated. He’s discouraged by it. So, and I think there’s the difference between, you know, like when Shawn Payeyton gets upset with Bo Nicks, it’s because he knows at practice or he’s seen what he can do. Like when Ben Johnson’s upset with Caleb, we’re now in week seven, week eight. It’s sort of like he’s resigned to this is what it is. He’s not screaming and yelling. It’s not like Jared Goff missing stuff that a coach would be like, “Bro, you make that throw nine out of 10 times. I just think there’s stuff Caleb is never going to be terribly accurate at.” Hey, it’s Colin. Last Major League Baseball postseason, you might have noticed the new logo on the batting helmets, that red ostrich, and the word Strauss. You see it behind me. They made history as the first brand ever on a Major League Baseball helmet. Check them out. Strauss has been family-owned and run since 1948. And they’ve built one of the most trusted names in workware. The pants are designed like tools you can wear. Made with materials up to five times stronger than standard cotton. Pockets that keep everything where you need it and comfort that holds up all day long. Their boots amazing. Built tough, built to last, and built to actually look good while they last. Strauss isn’t just work wear. It’s gear engineered to perform for you. From grit to glory. Gear up now at strauss.com. Str aus.com. strauss.com. You’ll see it all. Baseball postseason. Well, I also think there’s a huge part of football no different than a lot of different industries is Bo Nicks is Shawn Peyton’s guy. Ben Johnson inherited this situation. Now, you can tell me he chose this situation, and that is true. He didn’t draft him. And you don’t know if he, you know, obviously Detroit wasn’t anywhere near the top of the draft, but like what were his rankings in that draft? Would that have been the guy he chose? Cuz based on the way I watch him call plays, that’s not really his style of player. That’s right. So, I I get back to I I don’t care what you do. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had the support of leadership and been in situations where you don’t. It doesn’t work when you don’t. And that that’s if things are going well. You know, we see this in football and in pro sports all the time. Good players, good executives, new ownership, new management, things change. When things don’t go well and you don’t have the support because he didn’t pick you, you’re not his guy. I It’s over. I never thought this was going to work. You win a couple games. It’s And listen, their next two games, looking at their schedule, I got the Bengals, who can be beat obviously, and the Giants. So, this is where you got to be very careful about they could end up nine and eight. That that doesn’t mean because I think he’d go, “If we had better quarterback play, we would have won 11 or 12, you know, hell, we might have won the division.” I think that’s the way he’s looking at it. I’d be interested to see the Bengals line. I think the worst part for the Bears today isn’t the loss. It’s a blueprint. And the blueprint is don’t let them run the football. Stack the box. Do not let them run the football. And if you can avoid turnovers, this offense is it’s a BB gun. I mean, if you do not let them run with DeAndre Swift and just say, “Beat us down the field.” Even the even the throw to DJ Moore, John DJ Moore was the better part of that. Incredible catch. Tapped it to himself. Oh, coach, the Bears are minus one and a half at the Bengals. So, that tells you that the league’s like is it’s close. And I mean, I’m watching Flaco go up, you know, up and down the field. They were up they were up 14 points with 10 minutes to go in that game, you know. I mean, they they melted down. They they are much more functional now with Joe throwing the ball and their offense actually can work. But I to me the the game plan is simply, which is crazy because you go, “Well, John, look at his stats. He threw 25 of 38 for 285 yards.” I I watch him and I go, I I just I I don’t see it, you know? I I I I don’t see from the hype for the number one overall pick. And to me, he’s the problem, which is a problem. [Music]

Colin Cowherd is joined by ‘3 & Out’ host John Middlekauff to react to Week 8 in the NFL. They start with Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears losing to the Baltimore Ravens without Lamar Jackson. They talk about the disconnect between Caleb and Ben Johnson and why Bears need to decide soon whether Caleb is their guy.

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