Colin Cowherd: Caleb Williams, Bears Heading Towards a Divorce

Colin Cowherd has seen enough: The Caleb Williams experiment won’t end well for the Chicago Bears. 

Following the Bears’ 52-21 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2, Cowherd doesn’t think that Williams works well with new head coach Ben Johnson and doesn’t see that changing.

“The further this quarterback gets from the play script, the worse he is,” Cowherd said on Monday’s “The Herd.” “He’s like a studio musician having to go live, or a stand-up comedian who’s totally reliant on joke writers. His style in this league is not a timing style, and this coach craves it. This coach craves structure. So does Kyle Shanahan. Caleb wouldn’t work with Kyle Shanahan. Maybe there’s a coach it works with — I don’t think it’s Ben Johnson.”

The very start of the Williams-Johnson partnership was perfect. Williams completed his first 10 passes in their Week 1 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, ending their first drive of the season with a rushing touchdown. But things slowly deteriorated for Williams and the Bears in that game, throwing for just 210 yards and a touchdown in a 27-24 defeat.

Sunday’s loss to the Lions had somewhat of a similar script. Williams threw a 28-yard touchdown to Rome Odunze on the Bears’ opening drive before the Lions got out to an insurmountable lead. Williams wound up completing 19 of 30 passes for 207 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, with Chicago failing to score on seven of its eight possessions after its opening-drive touchdown.

While Williams’ numbers aren’t terrible, many imagined that the No. 1 overall pick from the 2024 draft would show his full potential with Johnson, who was able to unlock Jared Goff’s full potential in Detroit. But Cowherd thinks that Williams isn’t the quarterback that Goff is, at least not the one that fits Johnson’s system.

“There are two or three components to quarterbacking in this league,” Cowherd said. “You don’t have to be big. You don’t have to be super mobile — Jared Goff isn’t. But there are two or three things you have to do in this league. You have to be consistently accurate. You just have to be. Again, Jared Goff can’t run, he’s consistently accurate, Caleb’s not. And you have to be an anticipation thrower. You have to see stuff before it’s wide open. And he doesn’t. It also helps if you have composure: I don’t think he does. 

“He’s like the news anchor when the teleprompter goes down: ‘Oops!’”

If Williams continues to struggle, history suggests that the Bears would likely move on from him before they move on from Johnson. Cowherd made a point of that, but also mentioned that it might not all be Williams’ fault if the Bears eventually move on from him. 

“I don’t think this marriage is gonna work. I think Caleb may work somewhere, but this head coach did not draft this quarterback,” Cowherd said. “There’s certain franchises that can’t get out of their way. The Jets, they keep replacing the coach and the coordinators and the quarterback, and the Cleveland Browns. … I think the Bears are falling into this. I mean, they have fallen into it. I just don’t think this marriage works! 

“People get divorced, and they find the love of their life. Caleb’s really talented, and Ben is a structured, timing coach. But together? They don’t complement each other.”

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