LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Ahead of rookie minicamp Friday, Bears coach Matt Eberflus wasted no time in naming Caleb Williams as Chicago’s starting quarterback.
“No conversation,” Eberflus said. “He’s the starter.”
Eberflus’ declaration confirmed the inevitable decision for the Bears after they drafted the former Heisman Trophy winner with the No. 1 overall pick last month. Williams was the only quarterback the Bears hosted on a top-30 visit, and Chicago was the only team Williams visited ahead of the draft. Bears coaches began teaching the former USC quarterback their offense ahead of his pro day in Los Angeles and again while Williams visited Halas Hall in early April.
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Caleb Williams declared as Bears QB1 before rookie minicamp
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Caleb Williams learning what he can after being named Bears’ starter (0:35)
Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer
May 10, 2024, 07:01 PM
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LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Ahead of rookie minicamp Friday, Bears coach Matt Eberflus wasted no time in naming Caleb Williams as Chicago’s starting quarterback.
“No conversation,” Eberflus said. “He’s the starter.”
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Eberflus’ declaration confirmed the inevitable decision for the Bears after they drafted the former Heisman Trophy winner with the No. 1 overall pick last month. Williams was the only quarterback the Bears hosted on a top-30 visit, and Chicago was the only team Williams visited ahead of the draft. Bears coaches began teaching the former USC quarterback their offense ahead of his pro day in Los Angeles and again while Williams visited Halas Hall in early April.
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Williams also took it upon himself to work with his private quarterback coach, Will Hewlett, on the fundamentals of the Bears’ offense before taking the field for this weekend’s minicamp.
“You always want to get ahead if you can, and so with those things that they gave me, I would take it to my QB trainer and we would use the cadence, we would use the drops, we would use all those things so that’s not something that’s on my mind throughout the process of when I actually got here,” Williams said.
Eberflus said the Bears gave Williams and Hewlett the basics of the offense, which the quarterback said included the verbiage, route tree, cadence and how to operate in and out of the huddle.