Despite being one of the most-hyped rookie quarterbacks in recent memory as the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, Caleb Williams‘ first campaign with the Chicago Bears became one to forget. A promising 4-2 start, which was a play away from being 5-2, gave way to one of the worst collapses in more than a century of Bears football thanks in large part to a final play against the Washington Commanders.
After scoring a go-ahead touchdown with only 27 seconds left in Week 7 against the Commanders, the Bears would get their hearts ripped out on the final play when — after the Bears opted to allow Washington to complete two short passes down the sideline — quarterback Jayden Daniels pulled off a Hail Mary to Noah Brown, turning an all but assured victory to sudden defeat. It was a bad look for Bears coach Matt Eberflus, made worse by the way things were handled behind the scenes.
During an interview with Esquire, Caleb Williams said the way Matt Eberflus handled the Week 7 Hail Mary loss “annoyed” the Bears locker room. The loss was the product of not only a strategic gaffe on Eberflus’ part, but also a lack of discipline. The final play called for cornerback Tyrique Stevenson to guard Noah Brown, but Stevenson instead began the play by turning his back to taunt the crowd, and then jumped for the pass instead of staying on the ground to defend it.
“How [Eberflus] handled it at that time, for that game, was, I think, one of the things that throughout the locker room people talked about and were annoyed by,” Williams told Esquire.
Things never improved for the Bears or for Eberflus, who was fired after a Thanksgiving Day loss that saw him inexplicably not call a timeout in the waning moments of the game, allowing time to expire instead of giving his team an opportunity to score. Under interim coach Thomas Brown, the Bears would not win a game again until their season finale against the Green Bay Packers.
With Eberflus’ regime now in the past, Williams will soon get set to prepare for his second NFL season under new coach Ben Johnson. Williams completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,541 yards with 20 touchdowns and six interceptions as a rookie, but also took 68 sacks.
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