Caleb Williams wants to be the first Bears QB to hit 4,000 yards

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 2 hours ago

CHICAGO - Since Chicago drafted quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Williams has sought to be the Bears’ first 4,000-yard passer.

While that is not a goal he accomplished that year, Williams is looking to do it this year.

“I have self-goals and obviously, that’s being the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history. That’s a goal of mine. 70 percent completion, that helps the team, keeps us on the field, puts us in better positions,” Williams said. “And then other than that, just trying to go down and score the most points that we can with each drive that we have. So, that’s kind of my self-goals, and obviously, other than that, you've got to go win. That’s success for me. That’s success for the team and that’s all we wish for and all I wish for.”

There were numerous reasons he did not have 4,000 passing yards last year. First, he was frequently sacked. Some of these sacks were because of the poor offensive line play, although there were also times when Williams held the ball too long.

Chicago improved the offensive line during the offseason, and Williams is looking to improve his decision-making skills during training camp to decrease sacks further.

“Part of it is my footwork and that lining up with the play and that helps accelerate the clock for me,” Williams said. “The other part is being decisive and making a decision and then the other part is also taking what the defense gives me and not trying to find that big play every time and be the young cat and what to go and get that big play, big scramble play or anything like that. Sometimes, it’s just the check down over the ball, the flat, the second read that may not be something more than five yards.”

All players need different coaching. However, Williams has been clear since he arrived in Chicago that he wanted a coach who would coach him hard, be tough on him and help the team become a player-led team. That is not what happened in his rookie season.

But, with head coach Ben Johnson, that is something that seems to be occurring now.

“I’ve been used to tough coaching throughout my years. I’ve had different types of personalities throughout my years of coaching, but I would say the majority of my career of playing football has been tough coaching and it’s greatly appreciated (because) that’s what you need, (at) this level especially, to be able to go out there and execute and play at your best. Somebody up on you, coaching you hard and pushing you and that could be teammates and that could be coaches and we’re working on leading by example,” Williams said. “We’re working on the teammates aspect of it because that’s how you go win. That’s elite teams is when the players are leading. In the beginning, coach has set the example of how he wants things run and the standard and then, from there, we take it and we lead.”

Part of the importance of the preseason is to avoid looking too far ahead.

While Williams is well aware of what he needs to work on now, he is also well aware that the Bears will start the season in primetime against a division rival.

“We have the Vikings first game, Monday night, 8 p.m. So, obviously, you don’t look too far ahead,” Williams said. “But, you do understand that that time, you’re on a time limit and so, the race is here and so, we (can’t) pout about the long days and when those times do come about, we got to correct it and we got to move on and we got to find a way to get past that, the pouting or the anger or the complaining and understand where we’re at and what we need and where we need to be.”