Caleb Williams picks and chooses his path to well-orchestrated victory

“Again, he will continue to improve every week. But I think for him, operating the ball, honoring the football and taking care of the football is the quarterback’s most important job, and he’s done an outstanding job. “That’s my job today.

The other thing Williams did well was follow the instructions given at halftime, as he led two long touchdown drives in the second half, one of which included his 9-yard touchdown throw to DJ Moore in the back Part of the end zone ended and the other ended with the key points in the game on D’Andre Swift’s 36-yard TD run one play after Cole Kmet caught a throw on a seam route for 22 yards.

The Bears win together over the Rams

The TD pass he threw to Moore was pure reading. Williams saw the Rams defense trying to cover its best receiver with a linebacker.

“Actually, I saw security running over there,” Williams said. “I think there was a little bit of confusion on the defensive side. On the left side there was a safety over Gerald (Everett). Then I knew they wouldn’t do a double DJ if it exceeded security. They would let a supporter on DJ.

“So when you leave a supporter on DJ, that’s the matchup you want and that’s what you want during games, and that’s what happened.”

Part of the read and react for Williams that day was hitting check-down throws, and that’s how Swift got the majority of his team-high seven receptions.

“We always talk about how big check downs are, especially on third downs,” Williams said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a third down and long, a third down and short or medium. Stealing a third down is what we call it, whether you run, run or as scramble or whatever.”

“It’s fun to check things like that and steal them that way. I think we did a good job as a group. See two, share two if you understand it, and the guys did a great job.”

It’s one of the reasons he finished with seven first-down passes after only having two in the first half, and that the Bears went 3-for-5 in the second half after going 0-for-4 Third down passes came in the first half when they led 10-6.

“If you want to call him a game manager, then so be it, although he was more of a player considering how he made the right reads and hit the important passes.” That’s what an NFL quarterback actually has to do , instead of letting him run for 20 yards.

It’s easy to make the argument that Williams has learned and improved week after week after his 93-yard rush in the opening game. He didn’t force anything on Sunday, took what he could and emerged as a clean winner.

He even made some smart decisions in the second quarter when they scored on Roschon Johnson’s 1-yard TD run after Montez Sweat’s strip sack led to a rebound by Kyler Gordon at the Rams 16. On third down, instead of making a risky throw into coverage, he threw to a spot where it couldn’t be intercepted due to an incompletion. Then he benefited from a pass interference penalty on the first-and-goal play at 1.

“Overall, I feel more comfortable,” Williams said. “I recently said that in about two or three months I wouldn’t be playing football for a year, which is a crazy thought since my last game (in 2023) was on November 18 before the season.”

“I think that’s just what I’m feeling, just getting more into the flow of football, the rhythm during the season, the rhythm of the week, just feeling more comfortable and being more consistent with myself throughout the week .”

“Then we just build, we communicate, like I said. We build on things, whether they are good or bad. I think we’re doing a good job.”

Twitter: BearsOnSI