Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Theis and fantasy analyst Matt Harmon discuss the Bears’ recent scoring surge and how Caleb Williams is leading the way offensively. Listen to the full conversation on “Football 301” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you like.
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video transcript
The Bears’ offense is looking to start ramping up in the next three games against the manager, Cardinals and Patriots.
So, Matt, do you buy or sell that the Bears offense is starting to take off?
I’m buying this.
Oh, and they apparently had a great performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London before the acquisition.
So, I’ve talked about this many times, but I think you can picture a steady improvement throughout the season for Caleb Williams.
I thought it was interesting to look at Nextgen’s statistics.
Caleb Williams completed 34 of his 47 route penetration attempts.
So on slant post angle crosses, uh, his plus 28.4 EPA on such attempts is third-most in the NFL, and he’s gaining 10.8 yards per attempt on targets on breakers this season. .
This is the most of any rookie quarterback since 2018, and I think that’s important.
They never actually tried to hold hands with Mickey Mouse.
Oh, they were like, hey, they’d go off this scary abyss here to the diving board and sink or swim.
And I think Caleb Williams is where he’s really starting to swim and they’re obviously trying to cook something long term here and I know Shane Waldron is taking a lot of crap. I am.
I definitely gave Shane Waldron a hard time, but I also give him credit for cutting the fat in this offense.
Yeah, I buy this, um, how they use their personnel, like you said, they trim the fat and let Keelb serve the full menu.
It’s not just one play that we’re rushing too fast.
It just allows him to send signals, direct what is happening, set up the offensive line and ensure protection.
He’s been in protection since Week 1, and it still amazes me how completely he controls the offensive line.
That’s ii. I can’t stress enough how unheard of that is for a rookie quarterback, especially on a team that’s like, “No, we want to win a little bit here too.”
We want to make it to the playoffs, which is what we want.
He never looked over-extended, either mentally or physically.
He tried a few things early in the first few weeks.
The Texans game is memorable to me.
He is completely unaware of it yet.
he has a great arm.
He’s got more creativity, but the fact is he’s kind of the complete package.
That’s, that’s, yeah, that’s really cool.
