The Chicago Bears came into a must win situation when they took the field for their game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon. But few had as much on the line as quarterback Caleb Williams.
Williams didn’t reach the high bar many had set for him in his rookie season and while he had played decently over the first two games, it wasn’t to the standard many believed he would reach as a former No. 1 overall pick out of USC.
In the end, it may have been a visit from his former head coach Matt Eberflus that helped Williams take his game to another level, and as X user @TheJeffSchlegel noted, the now-Cowboys defensive coordinator may have done more for Williams on Sunday than he did his entire rookie season.
Matt Eberflus Helped Unlock Caleb Williams’s Potential One Year Too Late
Williams looked the part of a franchise quarterback on Sunday, completing 19-of-28 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns in the 31-14 win over the Cowboys. The game was also littered with highlights including a 35-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze to start the scoring and a 65-yard flea flicker to Luther Burden III that gave Chicago a 14-3 lead.
While Dallas came back to tie the game at 14 midway through the second quarter, Williams responded, leading a drive that set Cairo Santos up for a 30-yard field goal with 4:15 left in the first half and a 10-yard touchdown pass to Cole Kmet just before halftime to give the Bears a 24-14 lead.
After a four-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore, Williams had revenge over his head coach and looked like the quarterback that Eberflus was supposed to make him become.
There have been plenty of stories of dysfunction since Williams’ arrived to the Bears and it got to the point where Williams’s father called Chicago “where quarterbacks go to die” in Seth Wickersham’s book American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback.
Other storylines played out in full sight such as offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s fractured relationship with Williams and Eberflus refusing to call a timeout in a Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions. Eberflus was fired shortly after that game in Detroit and Williams has looked for his confidence under Johnson this season.
Williams’s stats were modest coming into Sunday’s game but after Sunday’s explosion, they look like they belong to a franchise quarterback. With a 63.4% completion percentage, seven touchdowns and one interception in his first three games, Williams might feel compelled to send Eberflus a Christmas card if his success continues.
For now, it’s one game at a time and Williams will look to build on the confidence Eberflus finally gave him when they travel to face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4.