A report from earlier this week claimed that “a few” veteran Chicago Bears players wanted rookie quarterback Caleb Williams benched in favor of backup Tyson Bagent following the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Williams spoke with reporters on Wednesday and insisted he feels he has the support of those inside the locker room.
“I think those guys are good, easy. We talk about it,” Williams explained, as shared by Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “I think I got full support from them. I’ve gotten texts or calls or people coming up to me, with this situation that just happened, and saying, ‘We got your back, we’re with you.’ You know, things like that and, ‘Let’s go.’ That kind of mindset and attitude has been what it’s been this past couple days. And that’s kind of what it’s only been.”
While the Bears won four of their first six games with Williams leading the charge, his play regressed over three consecutive losses. Some observers noted that the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft has been making the same types of mistakes he made in college and is holding onto the ball too long on pass plays. Others suggested that he has recently looked “rattled” during games.
According to Pro Football Reference, Williams began Thursday ranked 30th in the NFL with a 38.4 adjusted QBR, 28th with an 81.0 passer rating and 32nd with a 60.5% completion percentage for the season. He’s taken a league-high 38 sacks across nine games.
Chicago replaced Waldron with passing game coordinator Thomas Brown, presumably in an attempt to fix whatever is ailing Williams.
“I think we’ll do a good job of marrying everything together, making everything look the same [in the run and pass game], and then you’ll get a few easier passes, a few extra layups. I think it’ll help us in the run game,” Williams said about what fans can expect to see from a new-look Chicago offense, per Patrick K. Flowers of Bleacher Nation. “I think it will help us in the passing game by being able to do that. From there, I think that provides a little more explosiveness for us as an offense.”
The 4-5 Bears host the rival Green Bay Packers (6-3) this Sunday. As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Chicago as a 5.5-point underdog for that contest.
