LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Caleb Williams isn't where he'd like to be eight days into training camp, but the Bears rookie quarterback feels that he's precisely where he should be in his early NFL development arc.
"I think I’m on track to be ready," Williams said after Monday's light practice at Halas Hall. "Exactly where I need to be and where they want me to be. I’m excited. Every day I wake up, I’m learning something new. Getting ready for the season, preseason, and these next practices. Very excited, still progressing.
"But we’re towards the end of install right now for this portion, which is very exciting. To think that not too long ago, I didn’t really know anything about this offense, and now I know a lot more than I did. So, progressing, excited and ready to go."
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Williams' training camp experience so far could be characterized as bumpy. The No. 1 overall pick has shown off the rare arm talent, accuracy, precision, off-script ability, and instincts that had many label him as a "generational" prospect coming out of USC. However, Williams and the offense have been unable to find consistent success against the Bears' top-10 defense.
For Williams, the up-and-down nature of camp is about balancing his big plans against the reality of being a rookie quarterback who will make mistakes at these early stages.
"I’m always tough about the mistakes," Williams said. "That's the part about me that drives everything. Being tough on myself, being tough on the mistakes that happen, whether it’s MAs, a turnover or anything like that, being tough on myself and understanding that there are going to be mistakes. How I respond to those mistakes depends on the response and all of that always provides an outcome, whether it’s a good or bad response, the outcome to that response is always going to be there.
"These mistakes, these good and bad days that I’m having – at least my good and bad days that I'm having – I know it’s preparing me for those games late in the season, those preseason games coming up. Obviously, I go versus this defense every day, so they make it tough on me."
Bears Analysis
The Bears have praised Williams for the significant strides he has made in improving his ability to operate the offense and perfecting his cadence.
But while Williams has "leveled up" in that area, there is still a lot of work to do for the rookie quarterback to be game-ready.
"I think with him it’s the operation and the cadence, owning all the things that go in there," offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said Monday when asked what part of Williams' game is the furthest away from where it needs to be. "The great part about it is that he cares, he works hard, he’s so competitive that each day we have seen that improvement from him. So we’re confident that’s headed in the right direction."
While Williams knows he still has to iron out the operational kinks, he believes his biggest area for growth lies elsewhere.
"I would say working on my blitz looks," Williams said. "My blitz and coverage looks and feeling the umbrella of the defense and feeling that out to adjust protection, to adjust whether it’s a run - flip the run, flip the run in to it, flip the protection, get to a quick game, get to a Cover-0 check - however the structure of it works out, just progressing. And a lot of that comes with seeing it and reps so that’s also why preseason, those things are so important."
Williams excelled in that area during Monday's practice when he diagnosed a blitz, got the Bears into a quick game-beater, escaped a muddy pocket, and hit Keenan Allen for a touchdown in the back of the end zone.
The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner arrived in Chicago with his eyes set on immortality. Those big dreams haven't kept him from focusing on the daily improvement needed to reach such lofty goals.
Early bumps in the road, including a multi-interception practice Saturday, are frustrating for a perfectionist like Williams. But he understands it's all part of the process that will eventually lead him and the Bears to where they need to go.
"Obviously, there’s going to be challenging times," Williams said. "It’s not that it’s not coming quicker or slower than I expected. It’s more or less just myself.
"When I go out on the field, I expect myself to not mess up. It’s just how I am. And so when I do, it’s frustrating, and I would think for any quarterback in the league - there’s only 32 of us that are starting - for any quarterback in the league, I would expect them to be the same of when you go out there you expect to have no MAs, no interceptions, no turnovers and things like that and when you do, it’s frustrating. But it’s how you respond and react to those frustrating times is when you grow and get better."
That growth will continue all season. It's a journey, not a destination.
But Williams and the offense have 40 days to work out the kinks before the Tennessee Titans arrive at Soldier Field and the No. 1 overall pick is officially cleared for his NFL takeoff.