Caleb Williams had a rollercoaster day against the Cincinnati Bengals in his second preseason appearance. It didn’t start well. His first three drives ended in three-and-outs. His first three passes were incompletions, and one was an intentional grounding. Rather than get discouraged, the rookie kept plugging away. Aided by a defensive turnover, he drew a 43-yard pass interference, leading to a field goal to break a 0-0 tie. Then, with four minutes left in the half, he guided the Bears on a 90-yard march that featured a ludicrous 45-yard completion to Rome Odunze while rolling to his left and a seven-yard scramble for a touchdown.
Though Williams was smiling at the end of the game, don’t mistake it for satisfaction. During his post-game press conference, he made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the performance. It was also here where the rookie demonstrated remarkable maturity and leadership. During that field goal drive, the Bears had 1st and 10 on the Bengals 15. Teven Jenkins followed that with a false start, and then Nate Davis got beat for a sack. Williams easily could’ve thrown either guy under the bus.
Instead, he took full responsibility for the mishaps.
“I gave up a sack that wasn’t the O-line’s fault. I gave up a sack. I was in the pocket too long, trying to do too much. Other times, something always went wrong. There may have been a flag or the false start we had that I kind of rushed the cadence and the linemen tried to anticipate that. A couple of the other things, small things that always add up to be big things. Like me and DJ Moore not being on the same page. Keenan (Allen) and I not being on the same page. It always adds up. It’s super minute, super small things, but in the game of football, you only have split seconds, and those little things add up.”
That is, you never, ever call out coaches or teammates to the media. If you have anything to say to them, you do it behind closed doors. Any time there is a mishap on offense, it’s your fault. Any time something good happens, full credit goes to the teammates. Joe Montana became famous for that during his run with the San Francisco 49ers. Tom Brady was the same way. If you want to be a great leader, you must be willing to take hits from the media when things go wrong, even if they weren’t actually your fault.
An honest evaluation will say that Jenkins’ false start was his own mistake. Davis was outright beaten on his block, which led to the sack. Caleb Williams didn’t yell at them after the plays or call them out after the game. He had their backs. That is how you foster loyalty from your teammates. It is easy to see why even veterans like D.J. Moore and Cole Kmet are gravitating to him so quickly. The kid is good at this stuff.
