LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams grew up idolizing Aaron Rodgers. Now he might get the chance to compete against him when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit Soldier Field on Sunday.
With his completion percentage dipping below 60% and his passer rating below 90, no one would confuse the way Williams is playing in his second year with Rodgers’ illustrious career — not even Bears coach Ben Johnson.
“Probably not right now,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I think (Rodgers) is elite right now at getting the ball out of his hands. If he doesn’t have the fastest snap to throw time in the league right now, he’s gotta be close.
“He’s doing a really good job right now of spitting it out. He’s accurate, you know."
Rodgers, who turns 42 on Dec. 2, has a broken bone in his left wrist, but he is hoping to play against the Bears.
Johnson said Rodgers is "a good guy to look up to for a young quarterback.”
“I think our guy’s the same way but we probably hold onto it a little bit more, just where we are in the offense,” Johnson said of Williams. “And as we’re learning and we’re growing, I think we’ll gravitate more toward getting it out faster the more reps we have.”
Williams, 24, doesn’t necessarily want to be compared to Rodgers at this point.
“I think there are probably a couple quarterbacks in the world that have been able to spin the ball the way that he does,” Williams said. “Growing up as a kid, when you find and realize how hard it is to play this position, you admire some of the things he’s been able to do over this long career he’s had."
Williams hasn’t been precise enough himself, misfiring last weekend on a few open deep opportunities at Minnesota. One was to Rome Odunze and one to DJ Moore.
“There were a couple of passes that I missed,” Williams said. “There were a couple passes that we want back as a team. And there were times that we were clicking and we were moving the ball and running the ball and passing the ball well.”
While Williams has been inconsistent with his accuracy, completing half of his 32 passes against the Vikings, the Bears have won three in a row and seven of eight overall.
Williams has been particularly effective at the end of games, with five game-winning drives. He has shown the ability to escape a collapsing pocket before making plays with his feet, arm or both.
That talent will be tested this weekend against T.J. Watt and the Steelers’ pass rush.
“Yeah, I mean, they’ve got some werewolves on the outside, that shows up,” Johnson said, referring to Watt and Alex Highsmith. “I mean, some of the best first steps I think you’ll see in this league.
“So when you have both sides that you’re concerned about, that’s where you got to be pretty creative as a play designer to make sure that they don’t affect the game in a negative fashion. So, I think those guys, they hop off the tape immediately, both in the run game and the passing game.”
Despite his accuracy issues, Williams hasn't thrown an interception in his last three games. But he is still working on his completion percentage.
“Ben said something to me and then said it to the team recently from one of his former mentors,” Williams said. “He said — and this is speaking on quarterback terms — I don’t know if you can go 25 for 25 but I do know that you can go 1 for 1 each and every single time, 25 times."
Notes: The Bears opened the 21-day window for slot cornerback Kyler Gordon to return from IR (calf). He practiced Wednesday on a limited basis, as did Jaylon Johnson (groin), who hasn’t played since Week 2. ... Linebacker T.J. Edwards (hamstring) did not practice. He has missed the last two games.
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