World’s Smallest Caleb Williams Breakdown

Robert Schmitz | January 17th, 2024

It’s draft season and Caleb Williams is on my mind — I’ll have a longer, more thorough breakdown out later this offseason, but today I wanted to highlight his play from within the pocket. Specifically, whenever I watch him I see the following:

Quick, natural release
Throws with consistent anticipation when targeting his first read (if open)
Patient within clean pockets, works through progressions naturally
Strong pocket footwork that creates problems for opposing EDGE rushers’ angles
Arm talent that can naturally push the ball down the field on command

Couple that with his tendency to keep his eyes downfield while scrambling, even when under duress, and you’ve got a very dangerous modern passer that looks like he’d fit right in on NFL Playoff Weekend after a bit of refinement in 2024.

Highlight reels are great, but how well does Caleb Williams play within structure?

Here's an 18-play reel that'll give you a feel for Caleb Williams within the pocket — you'll see quick throws, deep shots, progression reads, and plenty of talent. All from the big bad ND game. pic.twitter.com/PS33ThcJ0M

— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) January 9, 2024

One more I just found: the QB in Wisconsin has made plays like this famous over the last few weeks. Here’s the same throw under pressure made against one of the best defenses in college football.

Gorgeous Caleb Williams play from the pocket here:

– Reads Man coverage early, finds his open man
– Sees his LT get beat like a drum
– Creates space in the pocket, fades away from the pressure
– Flicks his wrist, drops a 33-yard dime in stride, WR tacks on YAC.

Arm talent >>> pic.twitter.com/YnLyW6qfYO

— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) January 17, 2024

Editor’s Note: My son has been sick with stomach flu over the last few days, so I appreciate your patience within website content. It’s draft season, so I’ll see what I can whip up as I prep to head out to the Senior Bowl in a few weeks.

Tagged: Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears, Robert K. Schmitz

164 Comments

Eberflus Stays! Getsy Goes! Breaking Down Chicago’s Coaching Decisions

Robert Schmitz | January 11th, 2024

Nick & I talked through the latest decisions out of the Chicago front office here:

Your Turn: What do you think of the Bears’ decisions?

619 Comments

Checking the Tape: Week 18, Bears @ Packers

Robert Schmitz | January 10th, 2024

Also, something to watch for today…

Very much sounds like Flus is safe, but the Bears will be replacing their offensive staff.

And there will be no commitment to Fields. Team will evaluate the QBs at Combine and make decision then. Taking QB at 1 is NOT off the table.

— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) January 10, 2024

Your Turn: Do you want to see Matt Eberflus stay?

Tagged: All-22uesday Stream, Robert K. Schmitz

276 Comments

Haikuesday: Waiting For The End To Come

Robert Schmitz | January 9th, 2024

When will the Bears share…

…the future of Eberflus…

…and Getsy’s status?

674 Comments

Grading Chicago’s Final Exam: Nobody Passed

Robert Schmitz | January 8th, 2024

If the Bears’ visit to Green Bay was intended to represent a benchmark for their 2023 season’s progress, they failed their final exam quite emphatically.

Chicago’s report cards are currently under review and will be returned to our students throughout the next week. Until then, let’s review yesterday’s season finale one last time.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

The Silver Lining… is that there is no Silver Lining. There’s no easy excuse for why Chicago lost — after all, the ball bounced the Bears’ way early and often:
- Packers’ K Anders Carlson missed an early Field Goal
- Green Bay’s rookies allowed the clock to run out on the 1st half before picking up extra points
- Packers’ WR Bo Melton dropped a sizzling TD pass that hit him in the hands
- A Packers’ DB dropped an end-zone INT as Chicago rallied
- And then on 4th & 1 I thought the officials credited Chicago with a first down they may not have actually gotten.
Still, despite all of this, Chicago lost an emphatic 9-17 game. George McCaskey, Ryan Poles, and Kevin Warren are going to have to look this loss in the eye — they have no one to blame for it but the players in the locker room and the coaches that lead them. Do they think this plan would’ve worked if the team had more talent on it? Do they think this Quarterback gives them their best chance at success going forward? These questions felt easier to answer last week than they do now… and that’s likely for the better. If they can’t beat Green Bay, what’s the point?

Tyrique Stevenson, have a day. The Bears’ 2nd round pick felt like the only reason the game remained close during the first half of yesterday’s game — his pass deflection in the endzone robbed Green Bay of 7 points, then he stole another 3 points just before the first half ended. As if that wasn’t enough, he created the game’s only turnover as well by dislodging the ball from Jordan Love’s grasp in the mid-3rd quarter — He came to play.
- On a day where Chicago’s DBs struggled to compete with Green Bay’s receivers, Stevenson stole downs back for the Bears throughout the game and I loved watching him do it. Hopefully the All-22 paints as rosy a picture of his performance as watching the game seemed to.

The Bad

Same song, different verse. Chicago opened the season with a game-plan in mind: stop the run with our front 4, play Cover 2 & Cover 3 behind them, and make opponents grind their way down the field. Early in the year, that’s exactly what opponents did.
- Then, as the defense delivered one underperformance after another, the defense pivoted to running more Man Coverage defenses paired with blitzes up front — this worked, shutting down the offenses in the middle of the Bears’ schedule. As Chicago dominated lesser offenses, they rode this mix of Man Blitzes and Zone-Drop looks to becoming the NFL’s leader in Interceptions.
- But then, for reasons I cannot explain, it is as if Matt Eberflus grew tired of the risk involved with his pressure packages and reverted back to his early-season game plans — after all, the media was so mean to him about Justin Jones dropping into coverage that one time, how could he possibly call plays like that again?
- Thus, the door opened for Green Bay to exploit holes in soft zones with a quick-hitting pass game paired with a wide-hitting run game and, unsurprisingly, Matt LaFleur had no issues walking through that door. The vaunted Bears defense gave up 400+ yards, including a 6-minute backbreaker of a drive that closed the game, as Matt Eberflus’ best-laid plans unwound in front of his eyes.
Luke, I think it’s over. A Week 18 performance with less than 200 yards of offense feels like it should seal Getsy’s fate in Chicago. His tenure has been mired by poor communication across the offense, an inability to adjust to mid-game defensive changes, and a seemingly frayed relationship with the Bears’ signal caller… but at least we got a few nice opening game scripts.
Coffee is for closers only. Maybe I’m writing this out of frustration, maybe I have a point, honestly it’s hard to tell. But yesterday would’ve been a great day for Justin Fields to make a statement with his play in the 4th quarter. Instead, his two final drives resulted in a would-be interception and the final punt of the season.

The Ugly

The future seems far too uncertain. It’s easy for me, a writer, to write pretty words about the failings of Chicago’s head coach, but do George McCaskey, Kevin Warren, and Ryan Poles see things that way? Surely they can’t be satisfied with verdicts against quality teams always seeming to break away from them, but with Eberflus’ recent string of victories I can’t help but wonder if the front office is willing to move on. It feels like the perfect time to make a change to me, but I’m not the one signing the org’s checks. We’ll see what Black Monday brings.
- With a new Quarterback likely waiting in the wings and a reset coming at both defensive and offensive coordinator, this feels like the perfect time for the Bears to pick a new direction at HC — either Jim Harbaugh, Bobby Slowik, Ben Johnson, or whoever else you may have in mind would then have the opportunity to customize the team to their needs via Free Agency before drafting a Quarterback that, theoretically, would become the best QB in Chicago’s history given the environment Ryan Poles may craft for him using free agent money and draft capital. But is the front office willing to fire Eberflus ‘one year early’ rather than ‘one year late’? Only time will tell.

Postgame Podcast:

Nick and I recorded a podcast where we talked through the ups, the downs, the ins, and the outs of Chicago’s latest loss here:

Your Turn: How do you feel about yesterday’s game?

Tagged: Bear With Us, Chicago Bears, Luke Getsy, Matt Eberflus, Podcast, Robert K. Schmitz

120 Comments

Previewing Chicago’s Final Exam…

Robert Schmitz | January 4th, 2024

Why would the year end any other way?

At this point, all that’s left is to see how the chips fall.

Nick & I take you through the matchups, the stakes, the ins, and the outs of what promises to be a massive Bears season finale in Lambeau on the latest episode of Bear With Us — check it out below.

Your Turn: How are you feeling about this weekend’s game?

Tagged: Bear With Us, Bear With Us Podcast, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Preview, Robert K. Schmitz

180 Comments

My New Year’s Resolution? Beat The Atlanta Falcons

Robert Schmitz | December 28th, 2023

Matt Eberflus continues his final stand this Sunday as he takes on an Atlanta Falcons team that finds itself in a similar position to your Chicago Bears — neither team controls their playoff destiny despite playing in lackluster divisions, both offenses added weapons in the offseason and have subsequently underperformed, but the play of each team’s defense has kept each team alive despite the turmoil on the other side of the ball.

Neither team can make the playoffs with a win this weekend… but both teams will likely be eliminated from contention with a loss. Thus, for both Matt Eberflus & Arthur Smith, this New Years’ Day matchup is do-or-die. That sets the stage for a riveting football game.

Nick and I dove deep into this matchup (and the current state of the Bears) within the latest episode of Bear With Us, including discussion topics like…

What went well against the Cardinals on offense? How did they score so easily early? What did Arizona do to curb the offense in the 2nd half?
Who played well on defense last week? Who played poorly?
Where do the Bears match up well with Atlanta on defense? What weak links in the Falcons’ offense can they exploit?
How does Chicago’s offense match up with Atlanta’s defense? What kind of day will this be for Chicago?
Holiday chatter & game score predictions
And much, much more…

It’s one of our best episodes yet — check it out and let me know what you think!

Previewing a Christmas Eve Dance with the Desert Birds

Robert Schmitz | December 21st, 2023

The playoff push may have ended before it started, but with 3 games remaining on Chicago’s schedule backs are truly against the wall now — Matt Eberflus now has three late-game collapses in a 2023 season where, had Chicago taken care of business with all three fourth-quarter leads, he’d have firm control of the NFC’s 6th seed & might be a weekend away from clinching a playoff spot.

It’s hard to imagine the powers that be at Halas Hall aren’t every bit as disappointed as we fans are, leaving three critical weeks for Eberflus to make his final statement — if his team finishes the year with three strong wins, they might just save their coach’s job.

Eberflus’ final stand begins this Sunday as he takes on a hapless Arizona Cardinals team that should be easy prey… but this is the NFL. Nothing’s ever easy, is it?

Nick and I dove deep into this matchup and the state of the Bears within the latest episode of Bear With Us, including discussion topics like…

What was Luke Getsy doing throughout that game in Cleveland? What could he have done better?
Who played well on defense last week? What went wrong at the end?
Where do the Bears match up well with Arizona on defense? What weak links in the Cardinals’ offense can they exploit?
How does Chicago’s offense match up with Arizona’s ragtag defense? Should this be a big day for Chicago?
A review of Matt Eberflus’ defense against the Lions, including the driving forces behind Chicago’s success.
Holiday chatter & fan Q&A
And much, much more…

It’s one of our best episodes yet — check it out and let me know what you think!