Da Dos

Tag: Caleb Williams

  • Critiquing Caleb, Part 2

    Critiquing Caleb, Part 2

    J.T. O’Sullivan [former NFL QB and Founder of “The QB School”] watches about as much film as any Chicago superfan ever has especially last year
    His specialty is evaluating QBs, but in the process analyzes everything else

    His breakdowns last season showed a lot of details, some of which was unpleasant, like the baffling route concepts, D.J. Moore loafing, and Keenan Allen looking old and hurt
    All of which carried over into the regular season
    Cole Kmet looking like a stud in PS sadly did NOT carry over

    The Score catches him a year later and asks “What went wrong?” J.T. seems like he pulls some of his punches but still offers some insight

    Some notes.

    1.‘How can this guy not have the resources to go out there and be successful? but also, if you’re unhappy, and you’re the guy, walk in there, put your fist on the table and demand help’

    2. ‘I was in systems where the starter is responsible for watching film on corners- the backup would be in charge of watching film on safeties – the 3rd guy responsible for the nickel’
    [Seems obvious this wasn’t the type of system Waldo ran though Warner puts film watching squarely on the QB]

    3. ‘PS loafing was a big red flag for Eberflus’ culture.’ [as was skipping on Jalen Carter, but that’s for a future post]

    Once the PS games kick-off, J.T. is someone you may want to follow

    I found this curious. I actually don’t know exactly what to make of it since many believed Brock Purdy was Captain Checkdown and according to PFF, he is not

    OTOH, Caleb Williams and Purdy went a combined 11-23 in ’24 season, so that isn’t ideal

    Particularly when one considers that Caleb was terrible going deep, sacked a whopping 67 times and likely scrambled instead of checking down….meanwhile the 9ers just guaranteed Purdy a cool $185M! Go figure

    So on top of pocket awareness, presnap reads, deep ball and consistency, Caleb also needs to work on the checkdowns [or throwaways to avoid sacks]

    Fret not though. In 2022 Jalen Hurts [yes, the same who went bombs away in two SBs] checkdowned 3.3%, and if you read the comments, they’ll sound awfully familiar

    https://x.com/JackPConnell/status/1530307608091017218

    Needless to say, Caleb Williams, Ben or no Ben, has his work cut out for him in 2025

  • Critiquing Caleb, Part 1

    Critiquing Caleb, Part 1

    Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images

    Preamble:

    “We are what we habitually do; therefore, excellence is a habit” – Aristotle

    A father took his young protege son to get taught by a master. “He’s great now. I can imagine how much better he’ll be after the master’s tutelage”
    The protege played for the master.
    “You undeniably play well, but alas, I cannot help you”
    The father, shocked, inquired, “Why?”
    “His technique is beyond repair”

    “Cutler was ruined before he even entered the NFL. Running for his life on a weekly basis at Vandy ingrained terrible habits he never unlearned.
    He was throwing from his back foot ‘til his very last NFL game” – a quote I always remembered back when the Jay debate was raging

    It’s OTAs, and the circle-jerkathon is in full force. We already got the spunky 7th rounder from Rutgers. Now all we need for the annual Bears’ summer is some lil known try-hard to win the Joe Anderson Trophy

    So it’s important to keep everything in perspective without rose-tinted glasses. Get past all the Ben Johnson honeymoon bouquets, FA stars and draft ‘studs’…

    This season will MOSTLY depend on the most vital position in all of sports:

    Quarterback

    It’s hard to quantify where great coaching ends and great QBing begins. Belichick/Brady make a fascinating study. However, I do believe that a superb coach, like a good parent, master or teacher can make a difference IF the learner is caught early.

    As Frederick Douglass once expressed, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

    The #1 question for the foreseeable Bears’ future:

    Is Caleb broken beyond repair already or can Ben Johnson still build him up?

    Greg Cosell, Senior Producer at NFL Films, wonders this very question

    Few points from the vid

    – Pocket awareness

    “NFL goes back years and years, and often guys who get sacked a lot in college – who tend to retreat backwards – don’t do well”

    “Shadeur Sanders retreats a lot too. It might be innate. A longtime coach said that’s going to be really hard to fix”

    [Notice how all, Cutler, Caleb and Shadeur, played behind porous college olines? Does this create irreversible “happy feet” esp if they are thrown into a similar setup in the NFL which only reinforces it?]

    ‘Often QBs create their own sacks. Feel pressure that isn’t there. I don’t know if you can teach a QB to hang in the pocket and hit a receiver with defenders barreling down’

    – Assessing Ds [the Kurt Warner angle]

    ‘In the NFL it can’t be pure progression [where the D almost doesn’t matter]. In the NFL knowing how the D lines up is a BIG factor, and it’s hard to diagnose a D if there’s only 4 seconds on the clock’

    Those are two YUGE areas Caleb MUST solve, and quick. The third I would add is consistency
    Caleb Williams creates many ‘wow’ plays. But so did Jay Cutler
    Then the next play he throws it right into the gut of a DT or 4 INTs to DeAngelo Hall
    Rex Grossman won NFC Offensive Player of September, and look how that ended…

    Can’t win a SB like that
    Caleb must show up for the first 3 QTRs

    On the bright side, Cossell asserts BJ will at least help Caleb unlike the previous regime:

    ‘Ben Johnson does a great job of creating separation to make it easier for QBs
    [think prime GB with Rodgers when Jordy Nelson and gang ran free on crossing routes]

    But in the end your kid has to swim; your kid has to ride down the hill without training wheels; your kid has to drive on his own with his buddies acting like maniacs…

    As Caleb must himself ascend to that near mythic and ever elusive ‘generational QB’ and not flatline into another Bad Rex or Smoking Jay

  • Film Master

    Film Master

    It’ll be slow for a while now, and I’m not about to write about practice ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ nor go in depth about camp bodies we’ll likely never hear about again

    [shot out to the Joe Anderson fan club]

    But here are some interesting vids discussing Caleb’s film watching


    Kurt Warner perhaps more than anyone stresses ‘process’ the most. I remember last year during the whole QB draft debates Warner discussing “full field cover reads” [dissecting if the D is in Cover 2, Cover 3, blitzes, man, zone, going from left to right…] vs “pure progression” [what most colleges run presently]

    “The more we have this pure progression stuff, the less these guys are really having to dive in and figure out the nuisances of tape” – Warner

    Warner admits that every QB has his own tape-watching process. For Warner watching tape was not “coach-driven” it was “player-driven”


    Dan Orlovsky argues that most colleges run a high tempo-no-huddle shotgun O where the QB doesn’t change formation or audible much while facing basic Ds

    So some NFL coaches may simply assume QBs coming into the league know more than they actually do

    Regardless, we can all agree the whole situation was a debacle last season

    With that in mind, I am curious if Ben Johnson will make Caleb go old school full-read or play to his comfort with pure-progression?

    Either way, Let’s just hope Ben Johnson rights the ship and quick





  • Can’t Always Get What You Want…

    Can’t Always Get What You Want…

    So, I was going to write something about the schedule, then this drops

    You can hear the details and make up your own mind. Some thoughts:

    1. This doesn’t shock me. Why WOULD any QB want to come to CHI?
      Carl Williams, Caleb’s dad, was right, CHI is “where QBs go to die”
      While keeping Flus [and Poles] and hiring Waldo only furthers his case
      As MB muttered in disgust on his way out “Bears are Browns North”
    2. Caleb’s dad made some sound points about the rook CBA deal, but those old enough to remember the good ole days of paying Jamarcus “Purple Drank” Russell, Ryan Leaf, and Jeff George more $ than established vets know why a restructure was desperately needed, and I like it. Carl Williams may believe his son is “can’t miss” but Caleb hasn’t proven shit yet, and nearly everyone already accepts he is the 2nd best QB in that class [maybe even 3rd or 4rth for some NE and DEN fans]. For all we know, Bears drafted a slightly better Fields, but at least Caleb is not getting paid like Dak Prescott [$60M/yr. Think of all those FAs Poles can’t sign if that were the case]
    3. I do wonder if college QBs can jump to the CFL for a year, sidestep the draft altogether, then choose any NFL team the following season. In this scenario, maybe Archie Manning can opt to go to CFL for a year [as opposed to staying at Texas], ghost the draft, then pick a team in ‘27. Albeit I suspect the NFL could simply throw Archie back into the ’27 draft. Not sure about the fine print here. That could be its own article with lots of subsections. NIL further complicates the issue; still, this might be the future
    4. On earth 2, the Bears hire Klingsbury, and maybe Flus sticks around. We all know how this would end though. Spoiler alert, BADLY. It’s better the Bears vaporized instantly from a nuke than dying slowly over years from radiation poison

    This is an odd situation. Carl Williams was correct, but what he couldn’t have possibly foreseen was that the Flus-Waldo meltdown may have been better for his son in the LONG run. It absolutely ruined Caleb’s rookie campaign, but look now. Rebuilt Oline. Plenty of weapons. The best OC available hired to HC. A proven DC, Def and Specials

    Would Caleb and his dad still prefer to be in Minny or DC?

    Doubtful. At worst, it’s about a wash, and one can seriously contend that the Bears have a brighter future

    “You can’t always get what you want
    But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
    You get what you need     ”

    This is a lot like life. Sometimes, you get dealt an awful hand, and somehow it works out for the better

    My mom was unjustly fired from a job so her then boss could hire his niece. He himself later got canned for that, but didn’t help my mom at the time struggling as a single parent to pay her mortgage and raise two kids. She lost the house. She began smoking again. Almost began drinking again. I, a mopey teen, was completely oblivious to the stress, but it must’ve been immense; however, at her new transitional job as a roach-hotel receptionist, she met a young miner with long 70’s Pink Floyd hair. That miner ended up being my step-dad.

    How did my step-dad stumble into that roach-hotel? Well, he recently moved from out of state. Him and his bud in their infinite wisdom decided to rent a cheap hotel by skid-row to save $. Apparently, they didn’t get the memo that ppl who look like them shouldn’t be walking around skid-row at 3am [after shift]. He was jumped by 3 guys trying to jack his wallet, but his jeans were so tight, and he fought back so hard, they couldn’t squeeze his wallet out [Wrangler commercial here]. They slunk back to the broken urinated streets

    His friend took one look at him walking in the door, “We’re out of here”

    So they ‘upgraded’ to a slightly better hotel away from skid-row where my mom just happened to work. Ding-Ding. He checked in, likely still sporting some fading shiners, fat lip, and lumpy skull… locked eyes, and that was that; they’ve been married ever since. House, chihuahuas, the whole 9
    Two wrongs literally made a right

    Of course at the time my mom would have chosen to NOT get terminated and lose the house. Naturally, my step-dad would have opted to NOT get beat the fuck up. Both happened, and here we are

    Here we are, Caleb. Make the most of it

    Transcend tragedy