Old Mentor Reaches Out to Caleb Williams With Bears Coaches Failing Him

It isn't a secret that Caleb Williams' rookie campaign has been quite the rollercoaster ride. After a 4-2 start to the season filled the fanbase with optimism, the Chicago Bears have now lost four games in a row following Sunday's 20-19 loss to the rival Green Bay Packers.

Viewed as team leaders, quarterbacks often take the blame whenever their team goes through a rough patch. Although Williams hasn't been perfect during the Bears' recent skid, it isn't as if the coaching staff and management have given him the best tools to succeed.

Not only have the Bears surrounded their franchise QB with a lackluster offensive line but they also fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron last week, meaning Williams now has to work with a second OC in Year 1 — not exactly a good recipe to help a rookie signal-caller succeed.

But just when it became tougher to find the positives, one of Williams' former coaches reached out to him over the weekend for a much-needed pep talk.

Bears News: Lincoln Riley Reaches out to Caleb Williams

Williams told Bear Wire's Mike Pendleton that he had a productive phone call with USC head coach Lincoln Riley before the Week 11 loss to the Packers. The 23-year-old QB began his collegiate career under Riley's guidance at Oklahoma before the duo moved to the Trojans together in 2022.

So, what did the USC bench boss tell his former pupil?

"It's something that he told me my freshman year when I wasn't in a position I wanted to be in," Williams told Pendleton. "He told me to keep going. At that time, I didn't necessarily know what those two words meant. I wanted to hear a little bit more than that, and that's what he told me."

"I use those words to this day. That's when I got the starting point, kept working, kept going. That's all I can do."

Even though the Bears didn't get the job done in Week 11, Riley's words may have impacted his former quarterback. Williams finished the NFC North clash with a season-high 74.2% completion rating along with his most passing yards (231) since Week 5.

At the same time, the ex-USC product might need another kick in the pants. Although he played relatively mistake-free football last week, Williams still hasn't thrown a touchdown pass since Oct. 13 and Chicago's offense has struggled as a result, averaging just 11.5 points in the last four games — dead last in the NFL during that stretch.

The offense did look better under newly promoted OC Thomas Brown's watch on Sunday, so let's hope that it's a sign of better things to come for Williams & Co. After all, the Bears' attack must be at the top of its game when the rival Minnesota Vikings come to town in Week 12.

Not only are the Vikings averaging the 10th-most points league-wide, but they're also projected to be the 3.5-point road favorites over the Bears at Soldier Field this weekend, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

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