Cubs News: Williams on his first rushing touchdown, Mahomes comparison |
CHICAGO—Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has put together two solid preseason performances. Against the Cincinnati Bengals this past Saturday, Williams scored his first touchdown in the NFL with a seven-yard rushing touchdown.
As a quarterback, the Heisman winner prefers to throw the ball than run, as he only had a total of 966 rushing yards during his three-year career in college, with nearly half of those coming in his first season when he was at Oklahoma. Williams has always had a throw-first mentality, but is learning to balance that mentality with knowing when to take off and run. His progress showed on that rushing touchdown. “Even in scramble mode and things like that, I tend to lean a lot more towards throwing the ball (for) a completion right in front of me, however it may work, something crazy, or just throwing (it) to the end zone and things like that. So, they’ve been coaching me about attacking the line of scrimmage and things like that on my scrambles, on the rollouts, on the keepers, and things like that,” Williams said. “So, I’ve been trying to get a little bit better with balancing that and taking what (the) defense gives me whether it’s a run or yardage or it’s a quick pass in front of me or things like that. So, it’s always a constant battle to do things like that. You just continue to get better at those situations.” .@CALEBcsw wasn't letting go of that ball after scoring his first touchdown 💙 His attitude toward throwing the ball versus running the ball is the exact opposite of what fans were accustomed to seeing from former Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Fields was a strong runner but ran the ball too often when he could have taken a shot downfield to get more yardage. Williams, on the other hand, does not have that problem, although he did stand in the pocket too long at one point in the Bengals game, resulting in a six-yard loss. However, Williams seems to better dissect what went wrong on any given play to ensure that mistake does not repeat itself. “I gave up a sack that I was in the pocket too long, trying to do too much, and then the other times, something always went wrong,” Williams said. “There may have been a flag or the false start we had that I kind of rushed the cadence and (the) o-linemen tried to anticipate that and then a couple of the other things, that (are) small things, that always add up to be big things like me and (wide receiver) DJ (Moore) not being on the same page, (wide receiver) Keenan (Allen) and I not being on the same page. It always adds up, and it’s super minute, super small things. But, in the game of football, you only have split seconds, and those little things add up.” While his chemistry with Moore and Allen is not quite where he wants it to be, Williams’s chemistry with fellow rookie Rome Odunze was certainly on display against Cincinnati. Odunze’s 45-yard reception is arguably one of the best receptions from the preseason thus far. The trio of receivers Williams at his disposal is certainly one of the best in the league, with Odunze, Moore, Allen, and tight ends Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett. It can be more difficult for a rookie like Odunze to find his spot in that setting, but Williams believes both of them will be explosive playmakers for the Bears during their rookie campaigns. “We’re going to be explosive. We’re two rooks,” Williams said. “But, we’re trying to catch up to the old guys as fast as we can to make sure that we’re right there on par with them to be able to be efficient, function, go out there and be explosive, be on the same page and win games. That’s ultimately what we’re here to do, and having a guy like that who was drafted with me, we’re only going to keep growing and building this connection.” The All-American quarterback has already been showing his explosiveness. Part of why Odunze’s 45-yard reception is so remarkable is that Williams’ throw on that play very much resembled Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He’s a sicko. The Chicago #Bears have a sicko at QB pic.twitter.com/WqPl3KFSAu Even former Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill made a post on X comparing Williams to Mahomes. Caleb Williams so nice he remind me of …… When asked about that after the game, Williams said that while he wants the respect of fellow players in the league, he also acknowledged he did not play his best football in that game. “We weren’t our best (Saturday). We started out slow, and we can’t do that in the National Football League. You can’t come out here and start slow,” Williams said. “So, myself included, we’re going to get a lot better. We’re going to keep growing, and we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it, winning these games, going out there versus these other teams, playing as one, and so, we’re excited.” Chicago now has a short week. It will play against Mahomes and the Chiefs on Thursday, Aug. 22 (7:20 p.m./FOX 32 or NFL Network). Mahomes has been getting some preseason action, so the Chicago defense has the potential to play against him for a series or two.
New episode of #HardKnocks with the @ChicagoBears airs tonight at 9pm ET on @StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/2iNYgyH8On
