The Chicago Bears are hopeful that Caleb Williams, the team selected with last spring’s first overall pick in the NFL draft, is the franchise quarterback they’ve been without since Jay Cutler was under center.
Unfortunately, Williams’ first season in the NFL left a lot to be desired. Things got so ugly in Chicago last season that head coach Matt Eberflus was fired in the middle of the season, the first time the organization has ever relieved a head coach of his duties mid-season.
The Bears are hoping former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who helped unlock Lions quarterback Jared Goff, will be the right person to develop Williams into the star the franchise needs him to be.
While Johnson is Williams’s new head coach in Chicago, the young quarterback shed some light on what things were like under Eberflus last season.
“How [Eberflus] handled it at that time, for that game, was, I think, one of the things that throughout the locker room people talked about and were annoyed by,” Williams said of the Bears’ brutal Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Williams was honest about how frustrated he was with things last year and how the experience is motivating him not to have another season like his rookie campaign.
“When I got home, I got in my bed, I just dropped a few tears,” he said.
“I think those losses were pretty important for me and my growth,” Williams told the magazine. “To go on a losing streak, to be in this position and be at the helm of it, was definitely important for me. Just being able to see how I need to be when times are bad. . . .
“I’m going to work my tail off to never be in that situation again.”
