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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterDec 18, 2024, 05:33 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. – When the Chicago Bears drafted quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick, expectations were centered on the team climbing out of two-year rebuild and into the category of NFC contenders.
The opposite has taken place though an eight-game losing streak that dropped the Bears to 4-10 after an encouraging start of the season. While fellow rookie quarterbacks Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix have their teams in line for the playoffs, Williams is left to sort through the internal struggles that come in a losing season.
This is new territory for Williams, who played 37 games between Oklahoma and USC. The Bears’ 10 losses in 2024 make up the amount the rookie was a part of over three college seasons.
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Learning how to not let the losing become all-consuming has been an added challenge.
“Losing is one of those things that really affects me,” Williams said. “It’s tough. But I do have the understanding of where I’m at in my career and where I’ll be at. Having that (understanding) is important for me, myself internally, because internally it’s tough. Internally, when tough times happen, just human nature is to do the opposite of what you’re doing or what you’ve been doing and all these different things. The toughest part is fighting yourself, especially when there’s tough times.”
During tough stretches, Williams said he writes down specific things he plans to work on in the offseason, a list that currently has “five to eight” items he will focus on at the culmination of his rookie season.
“I would say all from pre-snap stuff to even post-snap, whether it’s footwork, whether it’s pre-snap and recognizing what they’re in, if they rotate to here, how fast can I get to this, how fast can I get to that route, this alert, that alert,” he said. “So, I got a good amount of stuff that I’m planning on going over.”
The quarterback has also relied on positive self-talk to stave off the discouragement that comes with each loss.
“This is going to sound crazy, but you talk to yourself, to be honest,” Williams said. “You motivate yourself, you encourage yourself. You have positive affirmations, is the word, that you say to yourself. With that, it makes the days better, it makes when you’re going through a tough patch, it makes those days a little bit easier rather than pulling yourself down, telling yourself you’re this and that.
“Like I said, it sounds kind of crazy, but I tell myself certain things: ‘I am great. I will be great.’ All these different things. So, I think that’s one of the biggest things, is not pulling yourself down and being gracious with yourself.”
One of Williams’ main frustrations has been his accuracy issues. The rookie has been off-target on 21.4% of throws this season, which ranks 32nd out of 34 qualified QBs (Anthony Richardson, 25.5% and Bryce Young, 22.8%).
“It’s frustrating,” Williams said. “I hate missing passes, especially ones that I’ve been pretty consistent on for a good amount of time. That’s coming. The progress has, over this football season, it’s been growing for myself and things like that of routes and combinations of routes put together and seeing all these different defenses and throwing all these footworks together. The progress has been on a steady trend upwards, but I would say it is pretty frustrating on missing some of these passes that I’ve missed.”
Williams is also the most sacked quarterback (58) through 15 weeks of the season. During “Monday Night Football,” cameras captured the quarterback in visible pain on Chicago’s bench after being hit three times and sacked twice.
Asked postgame about the cumulative effect of these repeated hits, Williams rejected the notion that they’ve taken a mental toll on his wellbeing.
While Bears interim coach Thomas Brown spoke to the ways he can help Williams avoid taking significant hits, he, too, agrees that the cumulative effect won’t phase the young QB. “Not with him, I don’t,” Brown said. “I don’t.”
