Caleb Williams arguably got hit with the reality of the NFL by the Texans in Week 2, finishing the night after taking seven sacks and 11 QB hits. Following this rough outing, a pep talk from sophomore CJ Stroud came next, though Caleb didn’t seem to be in the mood for it at the time.
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However, in the following weeks, the Bears quarterback seemed to experience a turnaround in fortunes, and fans are now attributing Stroud’s pep talk as a factor behind it.
Since the horror show against Houston, Caleb has gone on to score 9 touchdowns against 3 interceptions in 4 games. His QB rating, which hovered around the mid-50s before the Texans game, has now doubled.
These stats show that Caleb has turned it for the better. Several fans, however, are attributing the “awakening” to Stroud’s big bro energy.
Caleb hasn’t been the same since pic.twitter.com/L63tsJFJ98
— Dave (@dave_bfr) October 14, 2024
Some delved deeper into the Caleb-CJ incident and theorized that the Bears QB’s competitiveness couldn’t handle being “lil bro’d” by a fellow QB. Thus, the turnaround.
I know Stroud meant well but Caleb is so damn competitive. You gotta love it
— Dave (@dave_bfr) October 14, 2024
Fans thus unanimously agreed that Caleb should send a “thanks” to Stroud for helping him find his mojo back.
He should send Stroud a thanks for the motivation
— Your Fav Sports Bettor’s Fav Sports Bettor (@FIVESTARINVEGAS) October 14, 2024
A few, meanwhile, discredited the significance of this incident by pointing at Caleb’s performance against the Colts.
Well that’s not true. He struggled at Indianapolis the very next week.
— HIM (@CrazyCodie) October 14, 2024
While Caleb’s stats weren’t eye-catching in Week 3, describing the QB’s performance as a stinker is an overreaction. One could even argue that the root of his recent turnaround stemmed from that very game.
Despite the loss, Caleb was class against the Colts
The biggest reason netizens are lamenting Caleb and his offense for the loss against the Colts (in Week 3) is how winnable that game was. After the drubbing at Houston, this was the perfect game for the Bears to get back into the groove.
However, the offense was all over the place, with players running around like headless chickens searching for each other. Despite the Bears secondary’s valiant efforts in picking off Anthony Richardson twice and limiting Jonathan Taylor to two scores, Caleb & Co. were simply not clinical enough to outscore the Colts.
Despite this, there were a lot of positives on an individual level for the rookie. For starters, he scored his first-ever NFL passing touchdown in that outing. He also achieved his first 300-yard passing game in the league.
Even though he was intercepted twice and at times looked clueless, finishing with 33-for-52, 363 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions is not bad after the horror show against Stroud.
From a macro lens, if one had to pinpoint the game where Caleb was getting back to his Heisman Trophy-winning season, it would be the game against the Colts.
Since then, the QB has been intercepted only once and has scored 7 TDs. He has also become the first rookie from Chicago to record two 300-yard games. So, it’s only a matter of time before we see Caleb at his best!
