Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams is off to a rough start. Williams has yet to throw a touchdown pass through two games but has tossed a couple of interceptions and has been sacked nine times already.
Seven of those sacks came in the 19-13 Week 2 loss to the Houston Texans. DeMeco Ryans' defense blitzed Williams an astounding 41 percent of his dropbacks. That is the most during his tenure as Texans head coach, per The Athletic.
After taking a relentless beating, the former USC Trojan detailed the two things he learned from that experience.
"One: Communication. Two is making adjustments faster throughout the game," Williams said. "Having better communication between myself, coaches, and offensive line ... making sure that we’re on the same page and making the adjustments we need to in-game."
Williams then provided great insight as to why the communication was lacking on offense.
"I’m always involved in communication,” Williams said. “It starts with me and the center first ... You get the call in the huddle, and you’re in the huddle for however long, and then you up there, and you’re like you’ve already called your cadence. So trying to change the cadence at the line instead of using some of our tools that we have, I think that comes with time."
Williams' remarks provide fans a glimpse into what it means to be an NFL quarterback. As everyone knows, the game moves at a different speed than college. Identifying blitzes and calling out protections while making changes to cadence on the snap can be overwhelming. That is especially true for rookies.
Many first-year signal callers never reach the point where they have complete command of an offense. But listening to Williams ought to provide some comfort for Bears fans that, at the very least, he appears to understand what he needs to develop.
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