Caleb Williams defended himself after a fan’s video of the Bears quarterback missing his target while throwing into a net went viral. It prompted arm-chair quarterbacks to question Williams’ progress since last season.
“I look at it, and I laugh at ‘em, as always,” Williams said Thursday, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “We’re out here working. We’re getting after it. We’re competing, and that’s one of the drills in which we were competing.”
Williams explained that the drill — throwing into a net from close range — is designed to work on a quarterback’s quick delivery. He is supposed to throw the ball into the bottom left corner of the net as quickly as possible without turning the laces.
Williams was shown missing four consecutive throws before yelling and stomping off, but he said his reaction was misconstrued.
“We actually have a rule in own QB room — if you miss the board, you have to do something funny or something like that,” Williams said. “We’ve had some competition in those areas, also. It’s something fun, something competitive. I was competing and I missed it, and it was fake anger that I had, that I showed. That’s what [it is]. You’re competing with your friends and something like that happens you give maybe a little few words that you may say, choice words after losing to your buddies.”
Bears General Manager Ryan Poles also laughed it off, telling Cronin he didn’t know “it was a national crisis of Caleb struggling.”
The No. 1 overall pick in 2024 completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,541 yards with 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. The Bears went 5-12 last season and hired Ben Johnson as their head coach this offseason.
