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Inside Caleb Williams’ first week with new play-caller — and Thomas Brown’s vision for turning around the Bears
On his first play against the Green Bay Packers, Caleb Williams lined up in shotgun.
Running back D’Andre Swift flanked his left side, wide receiver Rome Odunze in the backfield to the Chicago Bears quarterback’s right. Just before the snap, Williams sent wide receiver DJ Moore in motion.
Then Williams handed off to Swift, who advanced 2 yards upfield.
The gain was limited, the drive ultimately moved enough to set up a 53-yard field goal.
But from the coaches’ box, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown saw his first call differently.
The Bears had fired Shane Waldron and promoted Brown from passing game coordinator four days earlier. Brown viewed his early game script as a chance to communicate his intent to his players and to his opponent.
And then?
“Build tendencies to break them,” he told Yahoo Sports in a Tuesday phone interview. “Give the same presentation and then still present something different to the defense.”
So 10 more offensive plays elapsed. Williams targeted each of his top three receivers and his top running back in a concerted effort to get as many teammates involved in the flow of the game early, while also using his legs to escape more productively than he had all season.
Then the Bears faced second-and-5 with 2:23 to play in the first quarter.
Again, Williams aligned in shotgun. And again, Moore and Swift flanked him.
The formation was flipped: Odunze on Williams’ left this time, Swift on his right. Moore again motioned across, but he, too, came from the right.
And this time, Williams didn’t hand off to Swift. He pitched a jet sweep to Moore, who took the toss 2 yards upfield to the left sideline.
First down.
And, perhaps, something more.
The Bears understand how much progress they, and especially their offense, need to make. They’re on a four-game losing streak during which Williams has not thrown or run for a touchdown. More than a month has elapsed since the Bears last scored 20 points.
But even as the Packers blocked a field goal to escape Soldier Field with a 20-19 win, the Bears looked around and saw something promising amid their 11th straight loss to a division rival. With Williams elevating his play on the game’s final drive, and offensive play-calling engineering a much smoother performance, the Bears wondered whether they’d found the blueprint for a turnaround.
In his first game receiving play-calls from Brown, Williams completed 20% more passes than any of his past three outings. The 2024 first overall draft pick registered his quickest release time yet, at 2.42 seconds on average, and he applied Brown’s principles to escape with his fewest pressured snaps (in raw numbers and percentage) of his career.
At 4-6, the Bears’ chance of making the playoffs in football’s most competitive division is just 1%, per ESPN’s playoff projection model. But stealing wins against good teams (with no sub-.500 teams left on their schedule, there will be a weekly option) can lay a foundation for the Bears the way the Detroit Lions laid their foundation winning five of their last six in 2022 despite missing the playoffs.
Developing Williams for long-term success is paramount, too.
As Brown shifts Chicago’s communication style, practice intensity and play-calling vision, the Bears believe they’ve found a spark.
“Thomas got the job and he went up in front of everybody and he talked about how this was going to be a battle,” Williams said. “But when we’re out there, we’re going to fight, we’re going to execute.
“We’re going to have that mindset of go out there and kick some tail.”
How ‘super fast’ play-calls are one upgrade for Williams, Bears
As Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator last year, Brown called plays from the sideline. He decided this season he’d see the field better from the booth, and opted to call plays Sunday from there.
The decision wasn’t unusual — NFL coaches routinely call plays from each place. But Brown leaned on the lessons he learned from Bryce Young’s rookie year to determine: In a league where myriad voices are eager to advise quarterbacks, streamlining communication is necessary.
The Bears arranged for a specific headset line that only Brown and Williams could access between drives. Brown clicked over to that line to give feedback from the last series and alert Williams to plans and expectations for the next. Then, he freed Williams to review film with quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph and connect with teammates.
“An opportunity to decompress, go talk with teammates,” Brown said.
When he returned to the field, decompressing time was over. Play-calls seemed to arrive immediately.
“Super fast, as soon as a play happened,” Williams said. “Thomas was right on the headset giving me the play and then from there, he just strung plays together pretty well.”
Brown continued to repeat calls in case game-day cacophony overpowered his first delivery.
Williams would listen until the play clock hit roughly 30 seconds, then gather teammates in the huddle from about 30 to 25. He broke the huddle around 20 seconds.
“And now you can use all your different cadences,” Williams said. “Mixing it up so the D-line can’t get a jump on the snap.”
Marrying the run and pass helped the Bears displace defenders from run lanes and gain back leverage on some passing routes. Motions gave defensive backs pause, tempting them to creep back in some instances. And the rapid-fire play-call laid the groundwork to choose spots that would best leverage tempo.
Take the moment when the Bears faced second-and-10, trailing 14-13 with 39 seconds to play in the third quarter. Swift exploded around the left side, sprung by a punishing group of blockers.
He kept going until he’d raced 39 yards to the end zone.
“Caught the defense off-guard,” Brown said, “and the guys did a phenomenal job of executing it.”
Williams included.
[Caleb Williams] has enough ‘stress downs.’ Most games in this league come down to one-score games where he's got to make some critical throws and critical decisions. But other than that, I want to try to figure out how can we give him ‘relief downs.’Thomas Brown, Bears offensive coordinator
Brown told his players during the week not only which plays he wanted to run but also the intent behind them — in what circumstances he envisioned a call coming, how he imagined the play would unfold and how a defense would respond.
He urged players and coaches alike to practice more urgently. Williams’ tempo would dictate the entire unit’s, Brown reminded his quarterback. Whether or not the quarterback felt eager, it was his job to set the tone.
“The quarterback spot is the most scrutinized position,” Brown told the rookie. “As a leader, you're not really allowed to have bad days [as] far as attitude, how you approach the group. It doesn't really matter how you feel. I don't feel like doing certain things at times. It doesn't alleviate me from the responsibility of being a leader and doing my job.
“So he's kind of in that same position and he embraced that.”
Tempo quickened, Brown said. Completion percentage did, too, per head coach Matt Eberflus.
Brown told Williams that yes, he has athleticism and God-given gifts to exploit — but he can’t afford to do so every play. If Williams’ first read is open, take it. If the initial air yardage isn’t as deep as desired, remember how many of his teammates make plays in space. And on third down, get as many yards as possible but don’t stress the final couple if they’re not there.
“We’re a pretty aggressive organization with going for it on fourth down,” Brown said. “So that gives me, at times, the opportunity to play third down like second down, where I’m not having to get all the yardage.”
The Bears still posted a season-best 56.25% on third down against the Packers but also converted all three fourth-down attempts. Williams found Roschon Johnson for 8 yards on fourth-and-2, muscled himself 4 yards on fourth-and-1, and then played at his best during fourth-and-3 on the final drive.
He thought the Packers would expect a run or short-gain play up the middle. Williams was excited when Brown instead called for a fade that both felt the Packers wouldn’t be expecting.
One play after finding Odunze for 16 on third-and-19, Williams hit his fellow 2024 first-rounder down the right sideline for 21 yards.
Caleb to Rome on 4th and 3. Ice cold.
📺: #GBvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/uwrkhQzgGV— NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2024
The offense had positioned kicker Cairo Santos for a 46-yard, game-winning field-goal attempt. The Packers ultimately blocked it. But players knew they could build off that seven-play, 42-yard drive at which Williams leaned into the Superman traits Brown encouraged him to save for just such moments. (The Bears drew some criticism for not attempting one more play given Santos’ track record under 40 yards vs. over 45, but that was not Williams’ decision.)
“We didn't get the result that we were hunting up, but that doesn't mean our process isn't right,” Brown told his players Monday. “So let's just continue to set the tone with that, and then increase it more this week.”
Where do Williams, Bears go from here? Start with blitz beaters, stress relievers
The good news for Brown, Williams and Co. is they have a full week to prepare for the Minnesota Vikings after last week’s hurried coordinator change and Packers preparation.
The bad news for Bears fans: They’re preparing to face Brian Flores’ zero blitz-happy defense that has confounded much more experienced quarterbacks than Williams. The Vikings have blitzed opponents 39.1% of the time, second-highest in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats. Brown coached against Flores at each of his last two stops.
“You gotta adjust everything because he's one of the best in the league, if not the best, at disguise and manipulation,” Brown said. “So it's gotta be some new wrinkles that we'll mix in here and there to get those guys some different looks, but also just the simplicity of understanding what your answers are if you get in trouble, having zero [blitz] answers because they will zero you out any time.
“We'll put our heads together and put a plan in place and keep sharpening our sword and go swinging on Sunday.”
The game plan will change. The principles and standards won’t — for players or for Brown himself.
He’ll continue to emphasize the collaboration that Eberflus praised his “wonderful job of” and he’ll continue trusting, rather than micromanaging, his assistants.
He’ll lean on receivers coach Chris Beatty to advise ball distribution and third-down plans. Joseph will continue to work most directly on Williams’ fundamentals.
And Brown, in his 360-degree strategy role, will tailor his play selection and game plan with consideration for how demanding the job of an NFL quarterback is even in opportune circumstances.
Brown thinks back to his time on Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay's staff from 2020-2022, where he worked with Matthew Stafford. Sure, Stafford was more than a decade into his starting quarterback career, with one of the league’s deepest mental banks of coverages from which to spur recognition.
That didn’t stop his coaches from wanting to simplify where appropriate.
“How can we alleviate stress off the quarterback?” Brown asked then and asks now. “Because he has enough ‘stress downs.’ Most games in this league come down to one-score games where he's got to make some critical throws and critical decisions. But other than that, I want to try to figure out how can we give him ‘relief downs.’”
The more Williams can literally and metaphorically breathe with schematic cheat codes and reduced pressure, the more he will develop during the rest of his rookie season and beyond.
Give the quarterback that foundational landscape, and the potential is limitless, Brown believes.
“I obviously want to continue to give him every opportunity, to put him in position to be able to win the football games and have success,” Brown said. “Understanding the fundamentals of the position, how to play within the rules and the confines of the game, understanding how to master decision-making, timing and accuracy, which is all about the passing game, and then also understanding our entire offense.
“The more he can handle, from a protection standpoint to run alerts, the more he evolves with that, the better quarterback he'll become. Because he has all the physical tools in the world to be as good as he wants to be.”