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The Ben Johnson Era with the Chicago Bears is well underway, but it appears that second-year quarterback Caleb Williams isn’t quite over the way things went down with former head coach Matt Eberflus. Williams appeared on the cover of the “Mavericks of Sports” edition of Esquire magazine and spoke about what went wrong in his rookie season after being taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
During the interview, Williams spoke about Eberflus’ firing. Specifically, he discussed the way the Bears head coach handled Chicago’s devastating loss to the Washington Commanders on a Hail Mary as time expired.
“How [Eberflus] handled it at that time, for that game, was, I think, one of the things that throughout the locker room people talked about and were annoyed by,” Williams told Esquire, via the Chicago Sun-Times.
Eberflus routinely defended his game management after the loss. He told reporters that the yards he conceded to the Commanders to put them in Hail Mary range did not matter. He also claimed the Bears defended the game-losing play correctly. So it’s easy to understand why the young star quarterback was annoyed.
Caleb Williams Says He Will Use Difficult Rookie Season As Platform For Bounceback
Williams struggled mightily during his rookie campaign in Chicago. The Bears went just 5-12 and veteran teammates reportedly called for him to be benched on multiple occasions.
“When I got home, I got in my bed, I just dropped a few tears,” he said.
But now he says those struggles were all part of a learning experience.
“I think those losses were pretty important for me and my growth,” Williams said. “To go on a losing streak, to be in this position and be at the helm of it, was definitely important for me. Just being able to see how I need to be when times are bad … I’m going to work my tail off to never be in that situation again.”