Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams will venture deeper into NFC North competition Sunday when the Minnesota Vikings visit Soldier Field.
Williams is coming off an encouraging individual effort in last week’s devastating home loss to the Green Bay Packers. He quickly turned his focus to a challenging matchup against a stingy Vikings defense.
With the Bears staggering through a four-game losing streak, Williams will have to do his part this week to put the team back on track. And the pressure will remain intense Sunday — from both a blitz-happy Vikings defense and the urgency the Bears face to keep their season alive.
Here’s the Week 12 entry in The Caleb Williams File.
The buzz
Maybe a scarred Bears fan base needed Williams’ performance Sunday, embracing his impressive rebound as evidence that his psyche hasn’t been significantly shaken through all the recent failure and chaos.
But Williams himself? Nah. He wasn’t itching for a strong outing as a means of steadying his confidence.
“I wouldn’t say it did anything for me mentally,” he said Wednesday. “After the third game (of the season), I realized that I can play and I feel good playing.
“I’ve said multiple times, regardless of the interceptions from the beginning of the season, I felt like I was seeing the field well and that still stands today. There are going to be rough patches over the long, healthy career I hopefully have. But that’s not going to change my mindset.”
Instead, Williams said, he’s leaning into the consistency of his preparation habits to fuel his growth. And to that end, a positive week leading into the Packers game aided a positive performance on game day.
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Williams also took exception to a suggestion Wednesday that new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown simplified the offense last week as a means of lightening the load and making Williams more comfortable.
“We didn’t reinvent the wheel in those three or four days after Thomas became the offensive coordinator and play caller,” Williams said.
Williams felt like his decisiveness with the football, his scrambling production and his efficiency in feeding his skill players were all byproducts of a clear, sensible game plan and heightened crispness for the entire offensive operation.
Now the hope is to retain that momentum.
Spotlight play
Fourth quarter. One minute, 33 seconds to play. Game on the line. Fourth-and-3.
Williams already had dug the Bears most of the way out of a third-and-19 hole with a 16-yard, extended-play dart to Rome Odunze on the previous snap, a completion Fox color commentator Tom Brady described as “an absolute missile.”
He then kept the potential game-winning drive alive with a 21-yard connection to Odunze, this time on a back-shoulder fade along the right sideline with Odunze making a fabulous contested catch against Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon.
That may have been Williams’ most significant throw of the season, a clutch, chain-moving completion that pushed the Bears across midfield and helped set up Cairo Santos’ game-deciding 46-yard field-goal attempt.
As Williams’ pass dropped into Odunze’s hands, Soldier Field came alive. There was even a burst of enthusiasm on the broadcast from arguably the greatest quarterback of all time.
“A-plus throw!” Brady exclaimed.
If it’s good enough for Brady, it’s good enough for us.
That Williams sandwiched that “A-plus throw” between two other high-level completions while propelling the Bears into scoring range on their final drive was the latest evidence he has the competitive verve to succeed in high-leverage situations.
Even in a heartbreaking loss, plays like that provide building blocks for a brighter future.
Up next
The Vikings’ pressure-heavy 3-4 defense gets its teeth from coordinator Brian Flores’ scheme. And Flores, it should be noted, leans heavily into the versatility and playmaking ability of linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Vikings in March after previously playing for Flores in Miami for three seasons (2019-21).
Van Ginkel leads the Vikings with eight sacks and 13 tackles for a loss and also has two pick-sixes.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus on Wednesday praised Van Ginkel’s “elite instincts” and noted his ability to rush the passer, stop the run and drop into coverage.
Make no mistake, though, the Vikings defense is far from a one-man show. Tackle Harrison Phillips offers juice up front to the league’s top-ranked run defense. Josh Metellus is a valuable chess piece, often used in a hybrid safety/linebacker role. When healthy, linebacker Blake Cashman has been an underrated contributor on the second level.
And six-time Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith still is playing at a high level in his 13th season. Earlier this season, the 35-year-old Smith became the sixth NFL defensive back with at least 20 career sacks and 35 interceptions. The other five — Charles Woodson, Ronde Barber, Brian Dawkins, LeRoy Butler and Larry Wilson — are Hall of Famers.
In short: The test for Williams and Brown is massive this week, particularly in how they handle a multitude of pressure looks from the Vikings, who create confusion at the line of scrimmage and test a quarterback’s vision and poise.
Williams will have to be masterful at diagnosing the defense both before the snap and once the ball is in his hands. Eberflus stressed the importance this week of feeding Williams with enough information so that he has answers but not overloading him to the point that his mind gets clogged and his decision-making slows.
“I can’t get into details of that,” Eberflus said, “but the answers have to be defined. They’ve got to be simple and they’ve got to be correct to be able to find the space that we need to in the pass game and in the run game.
“To me, that’s what it’s about. It’s got to be manageable but effective. And I think we’re on the right track.”
Big number: 16
Interceptions by the Vikings, most in the NFL. Eight players have a pick, led by Byron Murphy’s four. Notably, half of the interceptions have come in the fourth quarter, including three to seal victories.
The list of quarterbacks the Vikings have picked off more than once includes Daniel Jones, C.J. Stroud, Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers and Mac Jones.
On the plus side for the Bears, Williams has gone 4½ games and 146 pass attempts since his last interception. He has thrown only one pick in his last 227 passes.
Final word
Of course the Bears would have preferred a made field goal to end Sunday’s game, validating Williams’ clutch final drive. But Karl Brooks’ block of Santos’ kick didn’t completely nullify the swell of belief Bears players felt upon seeing their rookie quarterback rise up to meet a big moment in his first NFC North start.
Tight end Cole Kmet expressed enthusiasm after the game for what Williams showed on the final drive to punctuate a strong afternoon.
“He doesn’t have to be the No. 1 overall pick all the time,” Kmet said. “But when the moment calls for it and we need that at the end of the game … now the No. 1 pick has to come out.
“That came out. That showed itself. And that was really cool to see.”
Safety Kevin Byard was similarly energized and said he found Williams after the game to tell him he was proud.
“When you get into these adverse moments as a quarterback, he has shown who he is,” Byard said. “He’s a gamer. He’s a baller. That was very good to see from him in those big moments.”
There should be many more big moments ahead for Williams this season and beyond. He will have to be clutch and consistent to take his career and the Bears franchise to new levels.
But he already has shown the potential to do so is there.
