ESPN insider reveals how Matt Eberflus embraced Nick Saban's advice about handling Caleb Williams
HBO’s Hard Knocks debuted its first episode for the 2024 season on Tuesday. Giving football fans a behind-the-scenes look at an NFL training camp with the Chicago Bears serving as the featured franchise this year.
One of the most intriguing moments of Episode 1 was when recently retired Alabama head football coach Nick Saban visited the Bears’ facility to chat with head coach Matt Eberflus. An in-depth conversation centered around rookie quarterback Caleb Williams that ESPN’s Chicago Bears reporter Courtney Cronin analyzed on Get Up Wednesday morning.
“Well I thought the conversation shows you a really unique insight into that relationship, because Nick Saban was Matt Eberflus’ coach at Toledo and Eberflus coached under him at Toledo for a year,” Cronin explained. “So bringing him into the building, a lot of that was learning about the quarterbacks and how to manage quarterbacks. How to manage a quarterback of the caliber of Caleb Williams, and the thing that I took away from watching that interaction was the advice he gave Matt Eberflus about what he did at Alabama, what he did at LSU.”
Saban is regarded by most as the greatest college football coach of all time after taking home seven national championships and 11 SEC titles in his lengthy career. But his knowledge of the game goes beyond just the college level, giving some sage advice on managing a young quarterback that Eberflus immediately took to the practice field.
“He would stand behind the quarterbacks in practice because he wanted to get their perspective. What did you see on this play? What do you think went right? What do you think went wrong?” Cronin asked referencing Saban. “He would never go out there and admonish a quarterback or make them feel less than if something didn’t happen the way that it was supposed to or drawn up in practice.”
“So then immediately it jumps to a scene where you see Matt Eberflus standing behind Caleb Williams going through something at practice. And he grabs him right away and says, ‘Okay, what did you see on this?’ And you hear the conversation between the head coach and the quarterback in a really much more intimate level than I even noticed being out there practice most everyday throughout training camp,” Cronin explained.
Hard Knocks year after year provides access that even those who attend training camp are unable to obtain. As viewers will undoubtedly be tuned in to see how Williams develops and comes into his own as a rookie quarterback with massive expectations ahead of his first NFL season.
“I sat down with Matt Eberflus about a week ago to ask where the relationship was with Caleb Williams and really what did he learn from Justin Fields,” Cronin said. “He had a young quarterback in the building for his first two years in Chicago, and maybe what he learned that he wanted to change and things that he thought he did really well that he would be able to bring to the relationship here. And a lot of that has to do with him, a defensive minded head coach, being in those quarterback meetings.”
Eberflus’ first two seasons with Chicago featured Fields as his starting quarterback. A player who Chicago traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March that most would agree did not reach his full potential with the Bears.
A mistake that Eberflus will look to avoid happening twice through increased focus and attention on Chicago’s new QB1.
“They call it ‘The Breakfast Club’ in Chicago,” Cronin said “It’s one of the first things that happens in the morning where Eberflus is in with the quarterbacks, in with the coaches learning about what they’re going to do for the day and going through the plan there.”
“And for Caleb Williams to be the apex of the offense, that’s what Matt Eberflus calls him, everything has to revolve around one player and one player only. And that relationship is the key to the success not only for the team, but for Matt Eberflus and his job trajectory going forward too,” she concluded.