Caleb Williams impresses in professional debut
Former USC quarterback Caleb Williams participated in his first game as a professional on Saturday and did enough in limited action to show exactly why the Chicago Bears took him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Williams led two drives, each finishing with a Chicago field goal. He completed 4 of 7 passes for 95 yards as the Bears gained 152 yards and seven first downs on his two possessions. Williams also converted a third-and-nine with a 13-yard scramble. Williams couldn’t quite get the Bears into the endzone. The first drive stalled at the Bills’ 12-yard line and the second made it to the 15. In the very limited action, Williams finished with a quarterback rating of 101.8, which would have been good for fourth last season among quarterbacks who played in at least 10 games.
He and the other starters did not play in Chicago’s first preseason game last week, so all eyes were on Williams in this one as he will enter the season as the Bears’ starter.
Williams showed some of that quarterback magic that made him the Heisman Trophy winner in 2022 and arguably the most talented quarterback to ever suit up in the cardinal and gold. On what turned out to be his longest completion of the day, Williams hung in the pocket and found running back D’Andre Swift with a little flip on a screen play for 42 yards.
But the play that got most people talking was a rollout to his right where he pump-faked and then drilled a laser to tight end Cole Kmet for 26 yards. Two former quarterbacks took note of that play. Robert Griffin III went into detail, posting his thoughts to social media:
“This throw by Caleb Williams is more difficult than it seems and shows why he is a special talent ABOVE AND BELOW HIS SHOULDERS. Great ballsmanship on the fake, pump fake freezes the defender and buys time, then throws a 40 YARD FROZEN ROPE without getting downhill to his target.”
Longtime NFL quarterback Chase Daniel echoed those thoughts, posting, “This is NOT an easy throw…Caleb Williams makes it look effortless.”
It was Williams’ first game since last year’s rivalry game against the UCLA Bruins.
“Last time I was out there on a field other than practice was November 18th,” Williams told reporters after the game. “You go that long without something, it’s tough. But no, it’s been great. The guys made it fun. They made it easy on me.”
Chicago’s next game is against the Cincinnati Bengals on August 17.
