Caleb...

[Mongo3451]

This should be fun.  Caleb Williams needs to grow the F up.  He showed me too many plays yesterday that showed prophetic to his draft critics.

For starters, his head clock is killing him.  His feet get happy too soon and inaccuracy follows.  I don't see him as the guy that's willing to take the extra millisecond and take a hit.  If he is willing, the flight mechanism is overriding his intent.  You could clearly see that, especially the sidearm throw to DJ in the end zone.  He saw it and nuked the throw in a rush.  Cooler QB's loft it out there. 

Situational awareness needs to be a huge trait of a QB.  Caleb showed me several times that he doesn't get it.  He cost us time by not running out of bounds, when he clearly could have.(You too DJ)  He got a grounding penalty instead of throwing the deep out that was coming open on the same side of the field.  As the QB, he knew the route Rome was running.  If it wasn't there, throw high.  There was another dump off to the left that could have been called grounding.  What he missed was Loveland running free toward that area with room to make a huge play.  There was also a third and nine play with a five yard pass to a receiver that was bracketed.  The worst of them all was the three second stare down to Rome that the DB was waiting to pick.  He didn't look for anyone else that play.  It was very high school. 

At some point, Caleb's wild spirit has to be broken to the point that he's willing to run the offense without the things that are costing him to play poorly.  Yesterday's game was a pure indicator of the value of the turnovers we were getting.  I'm sure the Bengals have taken note.  For the life of me, I don't understand why he always has to do that jump throw to the sideline when he's evading pressure to the right.  It simply doesn't work as often as he would like.  Just run the damn ball and pick up a few yards.

Do I believe Caleb was the most talented player in his class?  Absolutely!  Maye was my first choice and it had nothing to do with talent.  Maye had been competing and learning how to overcome adversity since he was in diapers.  There wasn't a person in his family that he didn't have to struggle to beat.  I wanted the competitor over the talent.  They look too be wired differently.  When Maye talks, it's quickly and sure.  When Caleb talks it's umm umm.  I never liked that trait.  The good ones never stammer.  I'll wait to see if someone knows one.  Trust me, the traits I speak of aren't always a sign and it's simply what I like.  And I'm wrong as much as anyone.

Growing pains are what they are.  Sometimes you see growth and sometimes they just hurt.  Caleb has time, but needs to realize what he's doing and what it means on every play.  Caleb is our guy and I like him very much.  Hopefully, he grows quickly so we can see what he's meant to be.

 

 

[AZ54]

Especially bad when he’s in front of his family and friends in Maryland.  He definitely needs to be coached hard and I think we have the right guy to do it.  For Baltimore that was a playoff game yesterday.  We didn’t come prepared.   

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Caleb is part of the problem but there has also been plenty of good too. He has to be better and more confident throwing guys open and getting through his progresssions but he has had his positives too and has massively reduced his sack rate. 
 

The whole offense continues to false start (literally and figuratively). Too many mistakes between penalties, drops and poor execution too - in particular in red zone. Even mediocre red zone execution and we are having a different story. 
 

I expect to see real progress these next few weeks. Let’s see Bears dig deep and grow vs wilt!!! 

[BearFan PHX]

Caleb has a lot to grow yet, no doubt.

But we also see flashes that prove he CAN do it. The first couple drives this week stalled out in the red zone, but we all saw the offense working in rhythm, and weve seen it throughout the year.

The problem is consistency. And that includes all the things Mongo detailed at the start of this thread. They all need work.

But it's not like he cant do it - he just inst doing it consistently. Some of it is on penalties, some is on the other players, and some is on Caleb.

But if you just look for flashes, every sign points that Caleb CAN do this. And I believe Ben Johnson is his best shot to get to where he is going.

If you look at Goff's first 8 games with BJ (after he had already been a good NFL QB for several years) the numbers are strikingly similar to Caleb's.

If people want to say that Caleb right now is not good enough I completely agree. But I think his future is very different than other QBs weve had here. Caleb shows flashes every week. Thats what this season is for - to develop consistency, and to face issues and then work on them until he cant be beaten that way anymore.

I would still take Caleb over any other QB from his years draft. Not for where he is right now, but for where he is going. It is going to take some patience.