Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has precious little experience watching his team’s games from the sideline, though that’s what happened late in a Week 2 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions.
Detroit humbled Chicago at Ford Field on September 14 by a score of 52-21. Bears head coach Ben Johnson then humbled Williams by pulling him from the game with just under eight minutes to play in favor of backup QB Tyson Bagent, who ran Chicago’s last two offensive drives Sunday afternoon.
“It sucks that your guys are out on the field, and you’re not,” Williams said. “And that’s frustrating because you put [in] so much time, energy and effort, and those guys are out there still battling and you’re on the sideline. But it was coach’s decision, and you gotta move on from it.”
Williams’ expressed the kind of attitude the franchise would want from a quarterback who struggled and sat the final half of the fourth quarter of the most recent game, but who will also unquestionably be back in a starting role for the team’s Week 3 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field.
“In that situation, I’m thinking of how can I help this team, this offense?” Williams continued. “Whether it’s me saying something on the field or to whoever … or whatever the case may be, just to get the momentum going, get us going and get this team rolling.”
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GettyQuarterback Tyson Bagent of the Chicago Bears.
Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, isn’t even approaching the point of losing his starting job.
It’s also fair to speculate that Johnson’s decision to sit Williams was more about protecting his health in a game that was already decided.
That said, Williams noted that much of the rest of the first-team offense remained in the game down the stretch of the blowout loss in Detroit. Furthermore, the Bears definitely have a high opinion of Bagent after inking him to a two-year extension worth $10 million that keeps him under contract through 2027.
Bagent joined the team as an undrafted free agent in May 2023 under the previous coaching staff.
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GettyQuarterback Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears.
Williams completed 19-of-30 pass attempts on the afternoon for 207 yards, two TDs and one INT. He also rushed the football five times for 27 yards and took four sacks, which netted a total loss of 29 yards.
Both Johnson and Williams criticized the quarterback’s choice to make the ill-advised throw on a second-and-32 play from inside Bears‘ territory roughly halfway through the second quarter with Chicago trailing by just a touchdown.
“He’s got to throw it away,” Johnson said.
“Ended up rolling out, probably need to throw it away right there. Tried to make a play,” Williams said. “But I thought [Olamide Zaccheaus] was going to go high and he ended up breaking flat, and it was just a miscommunication on the field.”
Williams spoke later about not trying to make superhero plays, though that was precisely the issue on the interception, which came on an off-balance throw that well overshot Zaccheaus and proved an easy pick for Lions safety Kerby Joseph.
Williams’ two biggest issues through two games have been missing easy throws in big moments and trying to make something out of nothing, leading to mistakes. Those are certain to be areas of focus for Chicago this week, as the team enters the closest thing there is to a must-win Week 3 game against Dallas next Sunday.
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