Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams‘ rookie season was a frustrating one for all involved, with growing pains and disappointment scattered throughout the 2024 campaign.
Williams, chosen by the Bears with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft was hailed as the franchise’s savior and a generational talent, only to watch as the former Heisman Trophy winner never quite got on the same page with his receivers from a timing perspective as losses mounted.
However, what might have proven to be rock bottom for Williams and the entire franchise, was a Thanksgiving loss to the NFC North rival Detroit Lions in which head coach Matt Eberflus so badly managed the final moments of the game turning a potential upset victory into yet another heartbreaking loss that he was relieved of his duties the following day.
For Williams, though, there was one moment a few weeks earlier when the cracks began to form and it became increasingly obvious that Eberflus had lost the locker room, and the confidence of his players.
Caleb Williams Reveals Matt Ebeflus’ Chicago Bears’ Downfall
Few moments came to embody the Chicago Bears’ 2024 season or proved more detrimental to the franchise’s chances of making an insurgent run to the postseason in Williams’ rookie season than a Week 8 come-from-ahead loss to the Washington Commanders.
The Hail Jayden Game.
Chicago’s last-second 18-15 loss to the Commanders on a Jayden Daniels hail mary pass didn’t just snap a three-game winning streak, but the Bears didn’t win again until upsetting the Green Bay Packers, in Week 18, in Lambeau Field.
It was that heartbreaking loss in the shadow of the Nation’s Capital that Williams knew Eberflus’ days were numbered.
“How [Eberflus] handled it at that time, for that game, was, I think, one of the things that throughout the locker room people talked about and were annoyed by,” Williams said in a recent interview with Esquire Magazine.
Eberflus was fired six weeks later, and the Bears never came close to recapturing the momentum from a 4-2 start when there were glimmers of hope that Williams’ development could catapult Chicago towards a successful season.
By year’s end, the Bears lost 12 games, and it is those defeats that have fueled Williams this offseason, in his hopes of closing the book on his rookie season and beginning new chapter both for his career and the trajectory of the franchise under new head coach Ben Johnson.
“I think those losses were pretty important for me and my growth,” Williams told Esqure. “To go on a losing streak, to be in this position and be at the helm of it, was definitely important for me. Just being able to see how I need to be when times are bad.”
