For years, the Bears stressed that Justin Fields needed to look to throw when he ran out of the pocket.
Caleb Williams has that part down.
“It’s pretty exceptional,” coach Matt Eberflus said after Saturday’s practice. “Yeah, he’s pretty accurate there. He can really contort his body in different spots, in different angles. It’s pretty amazing.”
While he runs, Williams’ hips pivot and his left leg pirouettes as he turns his shoulders and rips a throw at one of a dozen or so arm angles. After one sidearm throw during a training camp practice, general manager Ryan Poles, standing on the sideline, tried to re-create the angle himself with a smile on his face.
Often, Williams’ most impressive throws come when he rolls left, forcing him to contort his body to square his shoulders before the throw.
“He has that one throw rolling to the left all the time,” running back Khalil Herbert said. “And he always finds someone on the sideline to toe-tap on the side.”
Few quarterbacks at any level can do that.
“We all know Caleb is a helluva scrambler,” running back Roschon Johnson said. “He can scramble and get the ball to pretty much spots all over the field.”
It’s made all that much more remarkable by the fact that the Bears are coming off three seasons with a quarterback who was special when he ran — but not when he threw on the run.
Fields’ 1,143 rushing yards in 2022 remains the second-most by a quarterback in the history of the sport. Fields’ two other seasons with the Bears rank 27th (657 in 2023) and 100th (420 in 2021) among quarterbacks.
With all that success — and with a poor supporting cast around him — Fields often rolled out in order to run.
Williams, though, scrambles to pass. Surrounded by receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, that’s a good idea.
“Justin liked to run it,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “He’d take off when he felt like he needed to, and he was really successful at it. I think he was — and still is — probably the best runner in football. He had that element to him.”
Fields averaged 4.4 yards per rush in college, Williams 3.3.
“You can tell Caleb has that real intent to throw,” Kmet said. “When he breaks out, it’s not necessarily always going toward the line of scrimmage. It’s bowing back out. Seeing [receivers] work downfield and do some things. That’s just really cool.”
The Bears are encouraging it — and are encouraged by his success in practice.
“We don’t want to hold back on that ability he has,” offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said. “I think the best part of his ability to move around in the pocket and scramble has been the downfield throws without getting turnovers.”
Williams had the 13th-best interception percentage in major college football last year. In 2022, the year he won the Heisman Trophy, he was seventh.
“We’re always going to be harping on that with all of the quarterbacks, with all our guys, so that ball security issue doesn’t show up when we go into games,” Waldron said. “I think those (quarterbacks) have done a great job of working that as a group. And then the receivers, the tight ends, the running backs, the O-line, really straining a little more if the play does go off schedule and working with that great intensity, that great hustle, to put potential explosive plays that we know can develop off schedule.”
Players are learning how to play alongside him during training camp. Left tackle Braxton Jones has been impressed by Williams’ pocket presence; he knows he can allow defensive ends to get deep in their rush at times because the quarterback will step up to throw.
“Caleb’s out there trying to make a play every play — he’s not gonna accept just sitting there and getting a sack … ” Jones said. “I’ve got to move my feet and keep on going because he’s just extending the plays. He’s a playmaker.”
Scrambling might become a necessity for both team and quarterback.
The Bears’ offensive line is down to three starters. Right guard Nate Davis remained out with a muscle strain Saturday, while right tackle Darnell Wright missed his second-straight practice with an undisclosed malady.
The health of the offensive line will be a determining factor when Eberflus decides later this week when Williams will play in his first preseason game. The Bears travel to Buffalo on Aug. 10.
“We’re gonna see who’s available at the end of this,” Eberflus said. “We’ll go from there.”
For all Williams’ unique play-making ability, he stands 6-1. Standing still in the pocket, Williams has to throw over blockers and rushers who are taller than him. He’s had more passes tipped at the line of scrimmage during training camp than Fields ever did.
Saturday, the Bears gave Williams another challenge: during seven-on-seven drills, they had four staffers stand at the line of scrimmage and hold blocking pads in the air to mimic the arms of defensive linemen with him in pocket.
“There’s real throwing lanes in real football …” Eberflus said. “We started to implement those pads just to look, simulate passing lanes and different arm angles he might have to use during the course of 11-on-11, team (drills) — and then in the game.”
