Caleb Williams' Week 1 struggles likely to be meaningless blip in expected rise

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Caleb Williams' rough NFL debut is unlikely to be a precursor of things to come. Rookie quarterbacks almost always struggle at some point early in their career, and the great ones quickly learn from it and use it as fuel to take a giant leap forward.

Houston Texans star quarterback C.J. Stroud, who the Bears will face Sunday night, knows all about this. Stroud had one of the best seasons by a rookie quarterback in NFL history last season, but his coming-out party wasn't without a few duds from Week 5 to Week 7.

“He’s definitely a playmaker, somebody who can expend plays and make all the cool throws, a tough player, takes hits," Stroud told Houston reporters Thursday when asked about Williams. "And [he’s] really just really talented, so I definitely do think that he has great things coming in his career, and I definitely do think he’ll get his rhythm going."

Rhythm is something Williams needs to polish as the 1-0 Bears travel to Houston after an improbable 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans.

Williams went just 14-for-29 for 93 yards in his NFL debut. The No. 1 overall pick pointed to several things he can clean up, specifically noting the tempo in his drops and how it impacted his accuracy.

Accuracy was one of Williams' calling cards coming out of USC. He flashed precision and touch throughout camp but missed several throws that should have been easy completions against the Titans.

The Bears are confident Williams' trademark accuracy will return as he gets his feet under him and fine-tunes his footwork, which got sloppy in the opener.

"I think for Caleb, it’s about reps, and the more time he is out there," offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said Thursday at Halas Hall. "I know Caleb had mentioned the tempo of his feet. I think just playing with that good clean tempo, and we mentioned clean eyes, clean feet, and sticking to that. That’ll obviously lead to an improved accuracy on a couple throws here and there. But, like we said, we have seen him make all these throws throughout the course of practice, throughout his college career, and have all the confidence in the world that each week that will get incrementally better and we’ll be excited with what we see."

Williams got sped up in the opener against Tennessee. That was likely due to a combination of adrenaline, some shaky interior protection, and frustration as the offense continued to struggle.

But after going over the film with Waldron and the Bears' staff, Williams believes those critical steps forward are on the horizon.

An early speed bump did not shake his confidence.

"I think having a realization, like I said earlier, understanding that it's not throws that I usually miss throughout all the time that I've been playing quarterback," Williams said. "I think that's one, and then also understanding it's the NFL. They've got good players on the other side. They're gonna make plays. Like a few batted balls that we had. Go in the right spot, throwing the right shoulder, trying to throw it over back, all these other things that sometimes a player's gonna get his arm up, bat it down.

"Having an understanding of those two things is very important to keep growing and progressing and to not lose faith in whether it's the play, the team, yourself, offense, whatever the case may be, you keep that confidence and understand that we obviously play as well as we wanted to and we came out 24-17 Chicago Bears win."

Playing with better tempo, rhythm, and cleaner footwork should help Williams settle down as his NFL journey begins.

But it's also up to Waldron to make life easy for the rookie quarterback. That's why he was brought to Chicago to oversee the development of this prized prospect.

Waldron is highly-regarded as a creative play-caller, but Sunday isn't going on his career highlight reel. There were very few easy throws to get Williams in rhythm and settle him down. That needs to change Sunday when Williams makes his first career road start.

"I think any time we can get the ball-out plays, where we have guys and we can get those things going, those elements do have an impact on the quarterback," Waldron said. "I think early on in the game, we didn’t have some of those elements in place. And then I think about the completion to Keenan [Allen] and some of those where we had some multiple plays where we were able to get the ball out right around that two-second mark, get the ball out, get the ball in space.

"We just need to keep doing a better job as a staff in terms of manufacturing those early on and get us rolling."

The Bears built a roster to support and, when necessary, carry Williams during the early stages of his development. But that supporting cast might be down two key members Sunday as wide receivers Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen have yet to practice this week.

If Odunze and/or Allen can't play Sunday, more will be placed on Williams' shoulders.

Even if that is the case, Waldron and the Bears just want Williams to "be where his feet are" and execute the plan.

If you ask Stroud, that's the key to success at the NFL level. If Williams can master the art of boring quarterback play, he'll rise as expected.

"Be yourself," Stroud said when asked about his advice for Williams. "Understand whatever got you here is just good enough. You don’t have to be a superhero. You don’t have to try to make all the plays. Sometimes, the boring plays are good."

Boring, accurate, and efficient Caleb is who the Bears want to see starting Sunday in Houston. He needs to be a chain mover before he can become the cheat code that Stroud has become.

But that's in his future. Just as a pebble doesn't alter the course of a river, an expected rookie dud won't change the planned trajectory of the Bears' new signal-caller.

But Caleb Williams has to master the little things before the march up to where Stroud sits begins.

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