Caleb Williams doesn’t have time to buy into the “Caleb Williams vs. Jayden Daniels” hype heading into Sunday’s showdown with the Commanders. His sole focus is the success of the Chicago Bears.
After all, Caleb won’t be on the field at the same time as Daniels aside from pre-game warmups and the post-game handshake. Regardless of how fans might frame Sunday’s game, Williams’ priority this week is Washington’s aggressive defense.
During his regularly scheduled Wednesday availability at Halas Hall, the quarterback made it clear that he’s not one to embrace storylines. “My job is to go win games on Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays. That’s it.”
It’s still a special occasion on the NFL calendar. The No. 1 and 2 picks from the previous draft class haven’t faced off since… last year. Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers picked up their first win of the season in Week 8 against C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans last October. It’s one of Young’s two wins in 20 tries as an NFL starter.
That game didn’t define Stroud or Young as quarterbacks, and it certainly wasn’t indicative of their future success in the league. A year later, Young is Andy Dalton’s backup in Carolina and Stroud has the potential to be a perennial MVP candidate in Houston.
The same goes for Daniels and Williams on Sunday. Nothing is career-defining about a Week 8 matchup between two rookies – Daniels might not even play on Sunday if the rib injury that forced his early exit against the Panthers last Sunday lingers. However, season-altering isn’t off the table. The Bears only have so many chances to capitalize on a strong start before beginning divisional play in Week 11.
And if the season ended after Week 7, the Bears would be traveling to Landover, Maryland to take on the Commanders in the first round of the playoffs. Washington’s 5-2 start is the third-best record in the NFC – good enough for the No. 2 seed. Meanwhile, Chicago’s 4-2 start has the Bears in last place in the NFC North. The good news? All four teams in the division currently hold playoff spots.
However, Week 8 is a little too early to be concerned with playoff seeding. The Bears still have plenty of room to grow and football to play before they can let themselves think about playing deep into January.
Caleb Williams knows the Bears are an unfinished product, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t moving quickly in the right direction. In the three games since losing in Indianapolis, Williams is 60/81 with 687 passing yards, seven touchdowns, just one interception and 102 yards on the ground. What’s changed since Week 3?
“We had multiple meetings where we would sit down and talk about things that were working for us, things that I like, things that I don’t like, things I talked about before like staying in the flow of – whatever the case may be – if we were running the ball 5 yards, 4.5 a pop, just keep handing the ball off. Obviously, mix in but stay in the flow of that and things like that. Those were the meetings that we had, the sit-down talks that we had and I think those moments that we had helped us progress.”
DJ Moore reiterated Williams’ emphasis on flow. “In the flow, you know, we’d be in a rhythm. Dialing up the plays and then going out there executing it and then we not having negative plays out there. So just staying in the flow of things, what’s called and then using some of the tempo to marry up everything else.”
Moore also spent a minute of his Wednesday availability poking fun at Caleb Williams’ alma mater, crashing the end of Caleb’s presser to remind him that Moore’s Maryland upset USC last Saturday, 29-28. Williams responded, “Shout-out Maryland on the win. I’ll give him his props. It was a tough one.”
However, Moore isn’t the only receiver with a big-brother relationship with the No. 1 overall pick. Keenan Allen credited their similar demeanors for the blossoming bond with Williams. “It’s just being friendly. I’m a great guy at heart, good guy to be around. He’s a great guy. Our energy just matched right away. It was just natural.”
Good guys and good players? Sounds like a recipe for success.
