Mike Tomlin’s comments on Bears QB Caleb Williams tell the whole truth about his performance whether people believe it or not
He was impressed by how Caleb Williams looked against his defense.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams continues to be heavily scrutinized for his play, regardless of the final outcome and his final stats on any given Sunday.
In a game in which Williams posted three passing touchdowns and zero interceptions while leading his offense to a 31-point outing, everyone is instead focused on the throws he missed and the big mistake he made earlier in the game on the strip sack recovered for a touchdown.
Williams himself was critical of his performance on Sunday in the win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and is aware of the ways he can improve moving forward.
“That’s the frustrating part. It starts with me, and then it funnels down to everybody else,” Williams explained. “I’m missing a few passes, and a couple passes recently that I’ve been surgical with, and missed those passes today. It was frustrating, but trying to stay positive for the guys. Just knowing what kind of game it’s going to be.”
Bears head coach Ben Johnson, as always, noted he needed to watch the tape before commenting on the play of his quarterback, but the coach on the opposite sideline had a telling review.
Steelers HC Mike Tomlin was impressed by Caleb Williams in Week 12
“I think they just did a nice job, you gotta give those guys credit,” Tomlin said after the game. “There’s some timing and inside breaking routes. Man, the quarterback was highly accurate on play pass turning his back to the defense and coming up and throwing. Sometimes you have to give credit to your opponent, and I certainly do in this instance.”
Tomlin is usually a straight shooter when it comes to speaking with the media, and when it comes to speaking about his opponents, that’s usually the best compliment you can get. But it’s not something that people are going to want to believe.
Williams finished the game 19-of-35 passing and didn’t look like a quarterback who was “highly accurate,” but Tomlin understands what he was throwing at Williams and how the offense was taking advantage of what his defense was doing on the field. Only Johnson would know better than Tomlin how Williams truly played on Sunday.
Williams, from what I saw, made some high-level throws with anticipation over the middle and delivered when it mattered most. Anyone saying that was a bad game from Williams is foolish, and if that’s a bad game, I can’t wait to see what one of his good games truly looks like running this offense.
Were there any areas to clean up? Of course, there always will be. But as I said, Williams held himself accountable for those issues and plans to do what he can to improve. The plan has always been to play the best football in December, and things are only starting to come together.