{"id":199819,"date":"2024-11-12T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=199819"},"modified":"2024-11-12T12:26:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T17:26:10","slug":"bears-caleb-williams-struggles-to-fulfill-promise-to-tory-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/12\/bears-caleb-williams-struggles-to-fulfill-promise-to-tory-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears No. 1 Pick Struggles to Fulfill His Promise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Moments after the Chicago Bears selected <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/04\/27\/chicago-bears-2024-draft-grades\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">punter Tory Taylor<\/a> in the fourth round, first-overall pick Caleb Williams sent him a message, promising, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/40039403\/caleb-williams-tells-new-bears-punter-tory-taylor-punting-often\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;Hey, you&#8217;re not going to punt too much this year.&#8221;<\/a> Sadly, Williams hasn&#8217;t lived up to his promise, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/The33rdTeamFB\/status\/1856105674461327550\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with fewer total yards (2,021) than Taylor has in punt yards (2,153).<\/a> However, with all the struggles in Chicago, the problems stem deeper than just at quarterback.<\/p>\n<h2>Bears QB Caleb Williams Struggles to Fulfill His Promise, but It&#8217;s Not on Him<\/h2>\n<h3>Bears&#8217; Offensive Rankings Since the Bye Week<\/h3>\n<div class=\"group\/conversation-turn relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\">\n<div class=\"flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col flex-grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 whitespace-normal break-words [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-5\" dir=\"auto\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"85b2a674-046c-4eac-b20a-9da6115843e6\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-4o\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[3px]\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert dark\">\n<p>Since their win in London over the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Jacksonville Jaguars,<\/a> the Bears offense has been abysmal, as if they forgot how to play complementary football after the bye week. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/The33rdTeamFB\/status\/1856046843534221731\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Here\u2019s how the Bears\u2019 offense has ranked since then:<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>19.1 yards per drive<\/li>\n<li>0.67 offensive TDs per game<\/li>\n<li>Six sacks allowed per game<\/li>\n<li>5.9% of drives ending in a TD<\/li>\n<li>55.9% of drives ending in a punt<\/li>\n<li>-0.33 EPA per dropback<\/li>\n<li>50.5% completion rate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the loss to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">New England Patriots,<\/a> Williams completed only 16 of 30 passes for 120 yards\u2014but that wasn\u2019t the worst of it. He was also sacked nine times. Colin Cowherd of <em>The Herd<\/em> said it best; <em>&#8220;Caleb Williams is going backwards. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/nfl\/caleb-williams-blame-bears-woes-he-worst-1st-round-qb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">When you have talented players, they&#8217;re young, and they&#8217;re getting worse\u2014that&#8217;s a coaching thing.&#8221;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Bears Coaching is Ruining Another Top QB Prospect<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s not just one person criticizing the coaching staff; other respected NFL analysts, like Daniel Jeremiah, have pointed out the negative impact on Williams. Jeremiah stated, <em>&#8220;Biggest issue for Caleb Williams right now\u2014playing tentative. He&#8217;s not cutting it loose. He&#8217;s trying too hard to avoid mistakes &amp; then he&#8217;s guiding the ball. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MoveTheSticks\/status\/1856052931126276443\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">It&#8217;s almost like it&#8217;s been beat into him.&#8221;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s disheartening to see a coaching staff drain all the creativity and flair from such a talented prospect, as they did with Justin Fields. Both Fields and Williams were highly aggressive passers in college, yet the coaches are now repeating the same pattern with Williams. Engraving the idea that turning over the ball is the worst thing in the world will never help develop any rookie quarterback. Since the bye week, Williams only has <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ilannfl\/status\/1856150174915068341\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one big-time throw and zero turnover-worthy plays,<\/a> which says it all\u2014he\u2019s losing what made him special. Williams looks like a completely different player than he did a month ago, and it&#8217;s clear that the coaching staff is the reason.<\/p>\n<h3>It\u2019s Clear the Bears Need to Make a Decision Fast to Save Caleb Williams<\/h3>\n<p>At this point, it\u2019s clear the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/10\/bears-captain-sends-5-word-statement-on-coaching-staff\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Bears&#8217; coaching staff and organization are failing Caleb Williams.<\/a> If they don&#8217;t want to repeat this <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/04\/chicago-bears-identity-crisis-trapped-in-a-cycle-of-mediocrity\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">endless cycle of mediocrity,<\/a> it&#8217;s time to make some changes. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/10\/28\/with-matt-eberflus-the-bears-will-never-be-playoff-contenders\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Matt Eberflus<\/a> must be fired after this season, and Ryan Poles should be on the hot seat. As for immediate adjustments, let&#8217;s hope <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/nfl\/profootballtalk\/rumor-mill\/news\/bears-fire-shane-waldron-promote-thomas-brown-to-offensive-coordinator\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new OC Thomas Brown<\/a> can help the Bears offense get back on track. Under Shane Waldron at OC, the Bears haven&#8217;t scored a touchdown in two games, with only 27 points across their last 34 possessions. The offensive line is atrocious, the wide receivers aren&#8217;t getting any separation, and the tight ends are nonexistent. If the Bears don\u2019t turn things around quickly, they risk squandering Williams&#8217; potential.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Mike Dinovo &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bears QB Caleb Williams promised something to fellow rookie Tory Taylor, but it hasn\u2019t come through\u2014and it\u2019s not on him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":199884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,54],"tags":[10075,7403,8851,8441,9704,32518],"class_list":["post-199819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","category-editorials","tag-caleb-williams","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-matt-eberflus","tag-shane-waldron","tag-thomas-brown","tag-tory-taylor"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}