Caleb Williams impressed his team-mates by apologising for his underwhelming performances, in the same week Tom Brady slammed the Chicago Bears quarterback.
Williams, 23, has endured a tough start to life in the NFL since being drafted as the No.1 pick. The Bears wasted no time in throwing him into the action by making him their first-choice quarterback. To the disappointment of some NFL fans, Brady, 47, recently criticised the Oklahoma Sooners star's earlier performances, suggesting he was not ready to be the signal caller just yet.
Williams reportedly stood up during a team meeting to apologise for his earlier underwhelming performances, not long after offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired. Considering the earlier criticism Brady made towards the youngster, the fact he appears to be taking responsibility suggests he is a natural born leader, if not a ready-made QB that can inspire a run to the Super Bowl.
FOX Sports analyst Jay Glazer recently revealed the rookie took it upon himself to stand up in front of his more experienced team-mates and take responsibility for the recent performances, which eventually cost Waldron his job. Before the change in OC, Brady slammed the decision to make Williams the first-choice QB.
To the fury of many NFL fans, Brady said he believes the Bears' decision to give Williams such an important role actually did the youngster a disservice. While playing under his second OC of the season, Thomas Brown, Williams showed many signs that he will soon be, if he is not already, acclimatised to the demands of the NFL.
While the Bears still lost 19-20 to the Green Bay Packers, Williams enjoyed a much improved display, throwing for 321 yards as the Bears found themselves on the end of a narrow loss. Even Brady admitted he was impressed by how the Bears have quickly started working to Williams' strengths.
While speaking on Fox Sports NFL, he said: "It’s interesting with these young quarterbacks now. You always thought that ‘We’re going to draft a quarterback in, we’re going to teach him our system and then he is going to get better at it’.
"The difference now is you are asking these kids to come in at 22 or 23 and you’re basically adapting your system to the strength of the quarterback. You’re going ‘Hey, what do you do well’ and, in this case, Caleb Williams, you’re going ‘How can we do more of these things to make our offense more productive’.
"It’s a little bit of a flip in the mind of what the coordinator needs to think about if you are using a young player, because you cannot bring them in and say ‘You’re going to run all these new plays, that you’ve never ran before against a good NFL defense and be very consistent’.
"So I like the way they adapted today to some of the strengths of what Caleb's shown that he can do consistently well."
It's believed Williams' team-mates were also impressed by his apology and willingness to make himself a leader in their dressing room. Ironically, before the Bears' loss to the Packers, Brady could be seen in deep conversation with the QB, who looked to be taking in every word Brady said to him.
Shortly after the match, Brady also made it clear that he can see the potential in Williams game. He added: "He's a talented passer, he's got a live arm, everyone loves the athletic talent but that's just the start of it."
