FIRST TAKE | Caleb Williams is a rising NFL superstar – Stephen A.: Bears will make DEEP playoff run

FIRST TAKE | Caleb Williams is a rising NFL superstar – Stephen A.: Bears will make DEEP playoff run

Do you believe Caleb Williams can carry the Bears on a deep playoff run this season? No, I don’t. Um I don’t think he’s ready yet. I I’m a I’m a huge fan of his. I believe in him down the line. Um I think he the the Chicago Bears have found their quarterback of the future, don’t get me wrong. I’ve always spoken up for him. Uh but I don’t think he’s ready yet. And when you when you consider who he’ll have to go against defenses like LA, like Seattle, like Green Bay, I just think that at some point it’ll be a bit too much for him. He’ll keep you competitive because he’s got all the skills, but I don’t believe this year is the year for him just yet. Next year beyond, yes, not there yet. And that interception that he and the run game that would help the Bears tremendously. All right, coming up on First Take, we’ll have much more discussion here. Also, it is V week at ESPN and we highlight the urgent need for cancer research. Thanks to Principal Foundation’s generosity, you can double your impact. They are matching up to $1 million in donations during VW week. If you are able, please visit v.org/donate. 121. Matt Lafleur is 12 and one now in his tenure against Chicago, including 6 and0 at Soldier Field, where they will play again in 12 days. Here was Jordan Love on what this win meant for his team and his coach. Yeah, I mean it means a lot to everybody. Uh but you know, obviously uh you know, we’ve all known the comments that were out there. So, uh it is what it is, but uh you know, this is a game that means a lot to everybody. It’s NFC North matchup. Obviously, Bears winner number one seed. Um so, it’s a huge game and like I said, you know, we’ll see these guys here in a couple weeks again. Okay, so if you were not with us in our first hour, we talked at great length about this. Packers certainly look like they are a Super Bowl caliber team. The Bears went toe-to-toe with them. They’re so far ahead of schedule that their season has been remarkable and we’ll see. But we had some significant disagreement and so now we’ll set aside a little time for it. The play call and the execution on the final play, that meaningful play of the game, the interception by Caleb, what did you think? Chicago want it back. It was predictable and you go to the moment. Green Bay calls timeout right before. Okay, so let’s go back in time to earlier in the football game. This is fourth and one earlier in the game. Couple things. Cut splits. You see the receiver come down. Quarterback rolls out. Ball fake. The back goes to the flat. You’re trying to get the tight end in the corner. This is fourth and one earlier in the game. Go back to Black Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles. Cut split. Fourth and one. This was short yardage. Quarterback ball fake back to the flat. Tight end on the corner route. Now this is the big time throw by Caleb Williams. So then you go to that fourth and one yesterday late in the game. Green Bay calls timeout. Tell me if it looks familiar. Cut splits, multiple tight ends, down block by the receiver, ball fake by the quarterback. Killback goes out in the flat. Tight end on the corner out. I promise you. Wide open. I pro No, no, no, no, no. I promise you. I promise you. Green Bay calls timeout. Calls timeout. Calls timeout and tells their guys be ready for this play. Nixon makes that play. Everyone’s sitting there. He’s not the first read. He’s really on that play. The tight end. He’s probably the third part of that progression. Back to the flat one. Probably as a runner two and then maybe the tight end late. He’s not the first read. Bear in mind it’s fourth and one. I just there was a reminder there. So he’s not running first down is what they need. The back’s not open. He’s not getting the back or the the legs there for Caleb are not getting a first down. So Nick, you would disagree. Why was he open when was he open? The tight end. Was it a bad pass? I don’t I disagree responsible for him. It’s not even near him. It was a great play call. He’s wide open. The fact that it took Caleb too long to get to it and the pass was bad. This is the one earlier in the game and the pass was bad is not the replay. didn’t mean this tape. He just means this play. No, it’s fine. It’ll it’ll make it to the tape with the play at the end where you have a wide open and backing off against Look at the timing of Look at the timing of the one from last week. Funny thing, it keeps working. Look at the timing of the one from last week. It’s the same timing. It’s later in the progression because that’s when your eyes are sort of less open there than he is on this. It’s the timing of the throw. We understand what you’re saying. I get that he’s still behind him. The throw is bad. If you throw it in anywhere reasonable, Nixon’s underneath, it’ll be a passing appearance. Anything look, he’s five yards away from him. Dan. Dan, don’t. At some point, you got to be able to say, “My bad, I was wrong.” If the quarterback throws the Well, let me ask you a question, Dan. If he throws that ball to the back pylon, if he throws it to the corner, is the is the tight end, he’s going to run under it and hopefully catch it, right? Yeah. I think it’s going to be a bang bang contested, okay? No, I I’m not 100% right. Um I think a better throw gives it a more likely He has him by five yards and Caleb underthrows him. If he throws a perfect pass, it’s a touchdown. If he throws an okay pass, it’s a touchdown. If he throws a bad pass, it’s pass interference. If he throws an awful pass, it’s an intercept. No, but here’s my push back. Um, you’re making it like the the the only throw that ends up as the result is that throw. It doesn’t matter if it’s picked off or not. It’s fourth down. So, I think the perfect throw is a touchdown. Nixon does an outstanding job. That’s a hard throw, guys, for a righty quarterback drifting to his left to float it in a small space. That’s not a hard throw, but creating that much separation. And I understand what you’re saying about the time that it takes when he releases. Then Dwood, why what what is your take on all this? Oh, I’m just watching two football sants. I’m just watching two football sants just going back and forth or whatever. My my last thing I’ll say is you’re talking about this and I understand what you’re saying. You don’t want to keep doing the same play. My point is it worked and you’re trying to convince me that it didn’t work when obviously I have eyes and we see that it worked. So you want him in that moment to have another play ready? He didn’t have one play ready. He had one that worked and it was a bad throw. Right. So we’re going to leave it at that. I I look I mean you can both be right a little bit. They they the the the a perfect pass probably does just unrealistic. So either way let’s let’s move on because there are so many other elements to the game. The the two primary ones. One right now. Let me get cheffy in on this one. Jordan Love right now playing championship level football, right? We have wondered. We know that Green Bay defense with Micah is unbelievable. The question is, is love good enough? That’s been the question on Sunday Countdown all year. Right now, he looks very much good enough. Well, you guys said he’s elevated himself into the MVP conversation with Drake May, with Matthew Stafford, and if the Packers finish strong and somehow right now, and the Chicago Bears also go from 1 to seven. Yeah. in the span of one afternoon, one fourth down predictable play that didn’t work out cost them six spots in the playoff ranks. A and and Dwood, the other side of it, I I watched the game with a house full of Bears fans. Uh so maybe I was watching it through Bears colored glasses. I emerged feeling great about the Bears. I know it’s a heartbreaking loss if if the Bears are in your soul, but my goodness, they may have lost a battle, but that looks like a team that to me is going to win a lot of wars. Again, like I said, you know, at the beginning of the show, like I felt like I watched a heavyweight bout, a prize fight. Uh both both of these teams going blow forblow. Can’t wait for to watch them in 12 days. And I’ll say this about Chicago Bears. Chicago’s Bears have an identity. Yes. Like especially in the second half, they made it a point, we’re going to do what we do best. We’re going to run the football. They had that 17play drive and they at at at one point they put the the Green Bay Packers on their heels a little bit like whoa we need to respond because all the momentum has shifted over to the Chicago Bears in the second half of that game. Identity is a lot like the Lions identity it used to be. We’re going to run the hell out of the ball and do play action. I would say I was high on the Bears before this season started and I watched them and I saw it. I was like they aren’t a number one team. I thought the Packers were going to like be a reality check for them. It was a reality check for me. Like the Bears are a lot better than I think I gave them credit for. And as for the Packers, their offense, they go for the jugular. And as a defensive player, that’s what terrifies me about this team is their touchdowns are 25, 30, 40 yard touchdowns. I would be scared if I’m a defense going up against Did you pick the Bears to win a division, though? Yeah, I did. And they still make I did. Most teams play a week from Saturday night in Chicago. Do not put it past the Bears to win that game. It’s going to get very interesting. Meanwhile, if you went to sleep early last night, you missed the end of a dinosaur.

FIRST TAKE | Caleb Williams is a rising NFL superstar – Stephen A.: Bears will make DEEP playoff run