LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WGN) — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams didn’t shy away from self-critique Wednesday, saying there were at least four-to-five throws he could have executed better during the Bears 24-17 win against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
“There were multiple I pointed out right after the game,” Williams said at Halas Hall. “I think I went on the lower end with like four or five, [but] I think it was around six throws that we hit those [and] everything would have seemed a lot different.”
Williams spoke frankly and in detail, expanding on the nuances behind the little things that help an offense be successful in difference facets of the game.
“[Just] making sure we’re focused on the small things, the details,” Williams said. “Whether it’s myself with footwork, drops, things like that, or whether it’s the routes, whether it’s the run game, hand placements [and] all these other things when blocking to make sure, as an offense, we’re successful.”
As head coach Matt Eberflus put it Wednesday, at no point in a NFL season does a team improve more than they do going from Week 1 to Week 2. In Williams eyes, even though there were some throws he would like back, the fact that the Bears won on Sunday makes that process of growth easier to journey on.
“Monday or Tuesday morning, you woke up and you realized that you won your first game in the NFL, regardless of how you felt about your performance,” Williams said. “We won the first game and I felt super excited … Not necessarily about how I actually performed, but that we came out with that win.”
The Bears will follow that win with a Sunday night date in Houston against the Texans, who feature young superstars on both sides of the ball in the likes of second-year quarterback CJ Stroud and edge rusher Will Anderson.
When asked if the success experienced by Stroud during his rookie season last year serves as a source of motivation to fuel his own successes, Williams deflected, and said the central source of his motivations to succeed stem from the team who drafted him to play quarterback.
“It’s not motivation,” Williams said. “For me, it’s motivation to be able to help the Chicago Bears win games — Win as many games [as we can], get to the playoffs and win games there. So, I’m just trying to do my best day in and day out, mentally and physically … to make sure that I’m prepared to the best of my ability for my team.
So, motivation comes from myself and within this team, this organization, to be able to go out there and win games.”
The Chicago Bears take on the Houston Texans Sunday on ESPN’s Sunday Night Football, where the Bears will be looking to win their first Sunday night game since the 2018 season.
Kickoff is scheduled to take place in Houston at 7:20 p.m. CT.