While it may be argued that NFL preseason games don’t mean much, you’ll find little dissent here or anywhere else except in a coach’s darkened film room.
But even if drama doesn’t solve the world’s problems, it can tell you things you already know, for better or for worse. It can reinforce your opinions.
Caleb Williams’ considerable skills were on display Saturday in his season debut as a Chicago Bear. While he wasn’t everything the team and its fans hoped he would be, he was a lot of it. All the hope a city in need of a quarterback had in him found a celebratory outlet in a very good performance against the Bills. He completed four of seven passes for 95 yards and had a passer rating of 101.8. He ran once, a 13-yard run.
Basically, everything an attentive observer would expect from the rookie was there. And as a bonus, the offensive line, which was reportedly a question mark, kept him from sacks.
Nice. Bears fans could use something nice in their lives.
But those of us who believe that maybe, just maybe, Williams is the answer to the Bears’ decades-old problem weren’t surprised by the outcome. We didn’t see Saturday’s performance as evidence of anything significant, either. We saw it as a continuation of an upward trajectory for the kid. And we’re leaving open the possibility that there will be turbulence. Maybe even some serious wind shear.
Saturday’s offering is what a reasonable person would expect from the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. An unrealistic person who sleeps at night in a Bears onesie might have expected a touchdown pass or two instead of two drives that lead to field goals. Sweet dreams, my friend.
Remember what I said about the ability of preseason games to bring things to light? According to sources, leopards don’t change their spots, so while Williams was good over the weekend, a few former Bears quarterbacks showed up just like they did in Chicago.
Across the field from Williams in Orchard Park, NY, Mitch Trubisky was himself. He completed 10 of 18 passes for 82 yards, giving him a measly 4.6 yards per attempt average. He didn’t throw an interception, but he posted a passer rating of 67.4. In short, that’s Mitch.
The night before, Justin Fields, Williams’ predecessor in Chicago, had completed five of six passes for 67 yards and posted a passer rating of 113.2 in a Steelers loss to the Texans, but was involved in two fumbled snaps. Those snaps could well have been the result of botching at center, but that’s beside the point. The point is, as any clear-thinking Bears fan knows, this sort of thing happens to Fields on a regular basis. In three seasons here, he’s fumbled 38 times, including a league-leading 16 times in 2022.
I bring all this up not to hammer Trubisky and Fields even more, but to point out the obvious: that Williams is different. He’s different than the two losers before him, and he might be different than any quarterback the Bears have had before. I know it’s ridiculously early. I also know it’s a pointless gamble to get so excited about a quarterback this early in Chicago.
And yet we are here.
It’s wise to ignore the Bears coaches and players when they rave about their quarterback. We learned that with Trubisky and Fields, who received the most praise in the league. So take the descriptions of receiver DJ Moore’s play on Saturday – “outstanding,” “amazing” and “unmatched” – with a grain of salt.
But Williams didn’t sound too taken with his performance, probably because he’s experienced it before. Not in an NFL game, of course, but on a sports field where his skills inevitably stand out.
After Saturday’s game, he spoke about learning from his mistakes and successes and moving on.
“We take a step back, we go through the tape and then we move on to the next one,” he said. “On to the next preseason game and then it goes from there and you keep growing, keep growing, keep growing and you just count the days, count the hours and keep going.”
He grows and grows and grows. Just like the excitement that surrounds him.
