Caleb Williams may not yet be the generational player his potential suggested he could be, but he has taken a massive step in his second year, along with the rest of his Chicago Bears team. And that could have something to do with a simple, old-school philosophy.
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Williams and company survived the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 34-31 Week 12 win, their eighth in their last nine games. Williams is top 10 in passing yards (2,568), top 15 in passing TDs (16), and top five in INT rate (1.1). The young QB has improved in nearly every category across the board. From volume to efficiency, he’s doing more and doing better.
Jon Gruden, now an analyst with Barstool Sports, believes he sees shades of one of the philosophies he employed while he was a head coach for a decade and a half in Williams’ development under Ben Johnson. And the philosophy, which he calls RCE, starts with “recognizing” what the opponent is trying to do to you.
“Recognition leads to communication. And you’ve got to have a toolbox of terms when you identify that front… I just see a lack of communication. I wrote these three letters down, I had hats and t-shirts made… It was R.C.E., and it was a big part of our existence. You gotta recognize the defense, man. You’ve gotta recognize the front, coverage, the matchup, and the situation,” Gruden said via The Inner Circle podcast.
Recognition (the R) leads to communication (the C). And that part is all about making sure everybody is on the same page by yelling out what you see to your teammates and calling audibles where and when needed. And if you can “recognize and communicate, it can lead you to high levels of execution,” which would be the “E” in R.C.E.
Recognize, Communicate, Execute. And Gruden and Matt Ryan, who were on the podcast as well, believe Johnson has Williams doing that at a high level through the Bears’ 8-3 start to the 2025 campaign. Gruden also says that not just Williams, but other young QBs like Drake Maye are finding more success thanks to simpler, less modern schemes.
“I do agree with ya. I think Caleb Williams and Drake Maye are really coming on. I like what Detroit does, I got to go up and watch them in training camp with Jared Goff. But there’s not a lot of teams,” Gruden concluded.
Ryan and Gruden talked about how these teams are using more game plans that have the quarterback under center, like they used to do more often. Gruden says this allows running backs to get a better head of steam and more time to read their cuts. Ryan agreed, saying that dropping back from under center also helps build rhythm for quarterbacks as well.
All three of those teams are having success this season. Perhaps other clubs will catch on and start going back to the old ways, too. R.C.E. and put ’em under center, that’s the Gruden way.
