Matt Eberflus makes a statement amid Caleb Williams and Bears' "sloppy, shaky" training day
Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears are widely tipped as a playoff team, if not a title contender, in the upcoming season. Around their highly-touted rookie quarterback, they have a monstrous offensive core that includes studs like D'Andre Swift, Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen and Cole Kmet, among others.
However, if their initial practices are any indication, they need to do a lot of work before fulfilling that potential. On Saturday, the Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer called the Bears' practice "ugly", "sloppy", and "shaky", with plenty of penalties throughout.
Addressing the situation on Saturday, head coach Matt Eberflus said:
"I told the players at the end of the day it's about focus and finish. So the focus needs to be better. You guys saw the pre-snap penalties and some of that was a function of what our defense doest. But we really have to wire in and focus on the offensive side."
An account of Caleb Williams' problematic preseason practice
How bad was Caleb Williams in practice? Based on various sources that have been curated by Chi City Sports' Jordan Sigler, there is a very damning account.
It began last week on Sunday when he threw multiple interceptions. CHGO Bears' Nicholas Moreno described one of them as follows:
"Tyrique Stevenson made a sliding interception on a Caleb Williams pass during the team period. Williams tried to hit DJ Moore with a sidearm pass on a second-and-2 play. Stevenson went low to secure the interception in a situational period before the end of the first half."
Then, on Thursday, Montez Sweat made a strip sack on him that was recovered by DeMarcus Walker, even being forced to apologize for it. Safety Kevin Byard also got an interception after a forced punt.
By Friday, Williams was so irate at his situation that he joined a shoving match between Sweat, Walker and Gerald Everett. Ryan Bates said:
"That’s my quarterback. I love that mentality. He’s got to be smarter, though, because we can’t have that. God forbid anything happens."
Saturday saw just more problems. Sweat strip-sacked Williams again and he was ejected from drills, with Matt Eberflus saying:
"He knows he should not do that. I pulled him aside and said, ‘Look, you cannot do that. You’ll be sick if something happens.’"
And to conclude this curation, backup defensive backs Reddy Steward and Adrian Colbert intercepted him on consecutive drives.