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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterAug 28, 2024, 10:54 PM ET
- Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has high expectations for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
While the No. 1 overall pick will be measured by his ability to raise the level of quarterback play in Chicago (the Bears have never had a QB throw for 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns in a season), Poles believes getting there is dependent on Williams relying on his teammates first before utilizing his own talent to make special plays.
“Lean on the guys around him, be instinctual, let those wild plays happen at the right time,” Poles said Wednesday. “We saw it in the preseason a little bit. That’s going to be important.”
The Bears will begin to find out how Williams handles that task when they host the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field on Sept. 8.
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They saw glimpses of Williams’ ability to dazzle in and outside of structure during two preseason games in which he completed 10 of 20 passes for 170 yards with a 79.2 passer rating and rushed for a 7-yard touchdown. He struggled at times with consistency but put together a series of big throws while outside the pocket that demonstrated his accuracy on the move.
The Bears want to see more of those plays in the regular season. And when it’s time for Williams to manage the moment, Chicago wants to see the rookie efficiently distribute the ball to the playmakers around him.
“We all know what he can do in terms of his arm talent, in terms of throwing on the move and those types of things,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “In the early parts of the game and early downs, he’s just asked to play point guard. Have a great operation, play point guard, get the ball to our skill either by handing it off or throwing it to him and letting them do the running and moving around and gaining the yards. It’s going to be big that our offensive line plays well, and everybody plays well around him, that’s defense and special teams included. Then when you get to the point in the game where it is a critical down or a third down or in the red zone or whatever that might be. Then you might see X-factor come out.”
Chicago has surrounded Williams with the type of talent that he shouldn’t have to shoulder the offensive load all the time. With wide receivers Keenan Allen, DJ Moore and Rome Odunze, tight ends Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett and a backfield with D’Andre Swift and Khalil Herbert, the Bears believe Williams can be successful when he leans on the players around him.
“And sometimes it’s going to get out of whack one way or the other, but always come back to that,” Poles said. “It’s kind of like that neutral place where he’s at his best, and I think he has that just from studying him and watching years of tape on him. He has that ability, and so I think that’s kind of the big thing.”
The expectations for Williams aren’t unlike the goals Poles saw the Kansas City Chiefs have for Patrick Mahomes during the early part of his career. Mahomes was drafted in 2017 when Poles was the director of college scouting in Kansas City, and the rookie sat behind veteran Alex Smith for the majority of that season.
“It’s interesting because I know there’s a lot of comparisons out there, but I don’t know what Patrick’s rookie year would’ve looked like,” Poles said. “But I know in year two you saw exactly that. When the pressure went up, he was calm. Then when it was time to do something special, he was able to do it and connect. But I also think — we probably don’t talk about it enough — he really gave opportunities for special players to be special. I think that’s what took it over the edge.”
The Bears are hoping to see Williams do the same. One way they’ll measure the No. 1 overall pick’s success in that area is by seeing how he handles the most critical moments of the game.
“I kind of say it’s their heartbeat,” Poles said. “Does their heartbeat skyrocket in those pressure situations? Or do you see this calm? We’re not going to know until we’re in it, in terms of the pro side of it. But that’s what I look for. I want the game to slow down, for there to be a level of poise, and again, I’ll go back to is there that same combination of taking what a defense gives you, leaning on your talent and then when you’re forced to be special, be special.”
