Caleb Williams is the automatic lightning rod for criticism whenever the Chicago Bears lose. Since a promising 4-2 start last season, they are now 1-12 after a 52-21 drubbing at the hands of the Detroit Lions in Week 2.
Williams did not have his best game against the Lions, but he was not anywhere near the biggest problem for the Bears. Dennis Allen's defense got further injury-thinned during the game, and a Lions' offense that was bent on sending a message to Ben Johnson was not going to be contained.
Still, Williams and everyone involved with the Bears knows they have to be way better moving forward. Williams, as a team captain and the quarterback, can particularly set a tone for his teammates with his words, both privately and publicly.
Caleb Williams has a message for anyone ready to completely write the Bears off
Williams spoke to the media on Monday afternoon, and he had a message to anyone who is ready to completely write the Bears after two tough losses to start the season.
"We’ve got 15 more games", Williams said. "It’s the first two games, and there’s been, on multiple occasions, teams that rallied back and go on a run, and that’s what we’re focused on. We all believe in each other. Coach said something extremely powerful to us after the game how much he believes in each and every one of us. Coaches included. And we believe in them."
"For a coach to say that after the game that he still believes in us, and when it comes time, that it’s a big third-down on defense or it’s a big fourth-down on offense, that coach is going to go for it in the right situation. But the belief is there, the trust is there. We’ve got to keep chugging along and find ways to win the next game."
History shows teams who start a season 0-2 have a hard time making the playoffs, and losing their first two games to division rivals makes the Bears' path to turning things around a bit tougher. But never say never, and Williams is trying to set that template for his teammates.
With so much to fix from the ashes of Matt Eberflus's last season as head coach, no one reasonably expected Johnson to turn the Bears around instantly. A piece of fixing things is rebuilding the psyche of holdover players who were beaten down mentally by coaches who were ill-equipped to handle adversity.
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The "we got 15 more games" tone of what Williams said on Monday was not going to be any different than what it was. The part where he praised Johnson and the coaching staff would not have happened a year or so ago though, and that's the difference Bears' fans can hang their hat on regardless of where the 2025 season goes from here.