Caleb Williams

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams spoke about the reported confrontation between cornerback Jaylon Johnson and ex-head coach Matt Eberflus following the latter's time management fiasco to cap the team's 23-20 road loss at the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

It's understandable why Johnson was angry. Down 23-20, there were 32 seconds and counting left after Williams took a sack to bring up 3rd-and-26 from the Lions' 41-yard line. Chicago had one timeout left, but Eberflus chose not to use it.

Instead, Williams snapped the ball with six seconds left and fired a pass to a well-covered Rome Odunze near the end zone. The pass fell incomplete, and time ran out.

The 25-year-old Johnson has played five NFL seasons, all with Chicago. The Bears' records since 2020 have been 8-8, 6-11, 3-14, 7-10 and now 4-8 for a total of 28 wins and 51 losses. Chicago hasn't made the playoffs during that time, and barring a miracle, 2024 will end without a postseason appearance too.

That isn't Johnson's fault, as the ex-Utah star has excelled in the pros, notably earning second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors last year.

So, as Williams noted, it's understandable why Johnson was frustrated after the Lions loss dropped the team to 4-8, marking six straight losses following a promising 4-2 start.

That losing streak notably began with the Bears giving up a Hail Mary touchdown to the Washington Commanders to cement an 18-15 loss, so the bad vibes have been brewing for nearly two months.

As far as the confrontation goes, Fox Sports' Jay Glazer provided the scoop.

"Right afterwards, Matt Eberflus started talking to the team, kind of almost washing it over, 'Hey guys, sorry about this, but this is the type of adversity we need...'"

"And immediately Jaylon Johnson, their Pro Bowl cornerback, interrupts him and starts speaking in very colorful language that I usually use off the air over here. It went on for about 10 or 15 minutes, I was told. That's the last Eberflus talked. It was Jaylon Johnson after that. That moment, those players knew, the organization knew, that's it for Matt Eberflus. He's gone."

Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini of The Athletic also reported on the matter.

"Jaylon went crazy," a Bears player told The Athletic. "He was very emotional and pissed but rightfully so. He's been here longer than most."

Another player said: "He was going off more so at (Eberflus)."

That first player also noted the issue Thursday was symbolic of the season: "We felt as players it's been too many instances where we fought our way back into games to lose because of bad time management and decision-making."

It all led to an "ugly" locker room scene with a lot of yelling," per a staff member to The Athletic. It got so bad that Eberflus even left the locker room.

Now offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has taken over as the team's interim coach for the final five games of the year. The Bears hope to make the most of the last five weeks of a bitterly disappointing and once-promising season at this point, beginning Sunday at the San Francisco 49ers.

Apparently, becoming the head coach of the Chicago Bears is slimming.

Interim coach Thomas Brown told reporters Wednesday he started trying to lose weight a couple of weeks ago. When he was named the offensive coordinator following Shane Waldron's firing after Chicago's Week 10 loss to the New England Patriots he was 225 pounds.

As of Wednesday and 22 days later, he is 203 pounds.

Brown will step into a new role Sunday when the Bears face the San Francisco 49ers. He was named the interim coach after Matt Eberflus was fired following a Thanksgiving loss to the Detroit Lions.

This is largely a lost season in terms of the record for the 4-8 Bears, but it isn't difficult to see the next five games as an audition.

Brown has already impressed with his ability to get the best out of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who has thrown for a combined 827 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions in three games since Waldron's firing.

Chicago lost all three games to the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Lions but was in position to win each of them thanks in large part to Williams' individual play before late special teams and clock management issues undercut his efforts.

A slimmer Brown will look to make sure Williams continues playing at an elevated level while helping the team avoid such mistakes in a new role.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell made it clear he didn't want his defenders to pull up if Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was running toward the sideline but remained in bounds.

Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said on his podcast that Campbell pointed out examples of Williams appearing to go out of bounds before turning up and gaining a few more yards. The coach told his defense to "hit his ass" in those situations with the rookie quarterback.

The revelation provides a little more context behind a contentious moment in the Lions' 23-20 victory over the Bears on Thanksgiving Day.

In the third quarter, Williams scrambled out of the pocket and was running toward the sideline when he got hit low by Detroit linebacker Jack Campbell. It was a clean tackle well within the field of play.

But the way Williams went down didn't look great and plenty of fans in Chicago thought pushing him out of bounds would've sufficed.

The No. 1 overall pick told reporters after the game he "didn't really appreciate the play."

"He just kind of dove straight at my knee," Williams said. "So I didn't really get that. Definitely kind of frustrated about that one, just 'cause you know, whatever. Yeah, knee's good. Nothing wrong with it. Think I just got a bruise. But the play was—the play was funky."

To the point Dan Campbell raised during his team meetings, though, Williams pulled up before got to the sideline, so he may have had designs on cutting to his left before that path closed.

Young quarterbacks, particularly those who tend to tuck the ball and run, always face adjustments in the NFL. The league has instituted plenty of rules in order to protect passers, but the players themselves have to take care of themselves too.

In the case of Williams, his apparent propensity to feign running out of bounds might need to be curtailed.

Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams' development for the remainder of the season reportedly played a role in the Chicago Bears' decision to fire head coach Matt Eberflus last week.

According to ESPN's Courtney Cronin, a team source said the Bears' decision-makers had to "factor in Williams' performance the rest of the season and whether staying with Eberflus would hinder his development as a franchise quarterback."

Eberflus' firing came on the heels of a 23-20 road loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving, which marked Chicago's sixth consecutive loss following a 4-2 start.

After trailing 16-0 at halftime, the Bears staged a furious comeback and Williams went on to have one of his best games of the season against Detroit, going 20-of-39 for 256 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, while also rushing for 39 yards.

However, the game ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Bears and their fans, as they grossly mismanaged the clock and failed to attempt a game-tying field goal.

Williams was sacked with just over 30 seconds remaining in the game, bringing the Bears to the edge of field goal range. Rather than calling their final timeout or quickly running a third-down play, Williams nonchalantly changed the play at the line, and by the time the ball was snapped, there was only time for one more play:

The rookie signal-caller had to throw a deep prayer in hopes of a game-winning touchdown, but the ball fell harmlessly to the turf, and the Bears squandered a golden opportunity to take the one-loss Lions to overtime.

While Williams undoubtedly deserves some of the blame for not having a sense of urgency in that situation, he is still a rookie, and Eberflus didn't do enough to protect his young quarterback in that situation.

Losing in that manner could be a potential confidence killer for Williams, and the Bears couldn't afford for similar instances to arise over the final five games of the season.

Although the jury is still out on the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft amid a rollercoaster ride of a rookie season, there is reason to believe he is coming into his own as evidenced by his five touchdown passes and no picks over his past two games.

Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will serve as the Bears' interim head coach for the remainder of the season, which could be a positive for Williams given that his play has improved since Brown took the OC reins from Shane Waldron a few weeks ago.

If the Brown-Williams combo works out well down the stretch, it is possible Brown could put himself in position to land the full-time head coaching job in Chicago.

Conversely, Eberflus felt like a lame-duck coach regardless of how the rest of the season played out, and that type of environment may not have been conducive to Williams' success.

Kliff Kingsbury was a senior offensive analyst for USC during the 2023 season when Caleb Williams was leading the Trojans, and he reportedly could be reunited with the quarterback on the Chicago Bears.

After Chicago fired head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport provided an update on Sunday and noted the team will consider interim coach Thomas Brown, as well as top candidates Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel and Aaron Glenn.

However, he also called Kingsbury, who is now the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders, "an interesting name to watch" in the Bears' search.

While Williams won the Heisman Trophy during the 2022 season at USC, he also thrived in 2023 while working with Kingsbury.

He completed 68.6 percent of his passes for 3,633 yards, 30 touchdowns and five interceptions while adding 142 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground as a runner. USC was just 8-5 on the campaign, but a poor defense was responsible for many of the losses while Williams played well enough to be the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft.

LSU's Jayden Daniels was the No. 2 pick of that draft, and he has the Commanders in playoff position at 7-5 while working with Kingsbury.

He is also playing like the potential Offensive Rookie of the Year while completing 68.4 percent of his passes for 2,613 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions to go with 556 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.

Daniels' most notable moment of the season also came against Williams' Bears when he completed a Hail Mary on the final play to win their Week 8 matchup in dramatic fashion.

As for Chicago, the most important thing for the rest of the season and the offseason is creating an ideal environment for Williams to thrive. The NFC North team has been searching for a franchise quarterback for nearly its entire existence, and the hope is the USC product becomes just that as he develops in his career.

If that means partnering him back up with Kingsbury, that might be the direction the front office takes.

After all, the No. 1 pick living up to expectations is the only realistic way the Bears will eventually compete in a strong division that also includes the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.

Kingsbury has helped Daniels find early success, and Chicago and others will likely continue to evaluate him by how the Commanders finish their season.

The USC Trojans retired current Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' number on Saturday during halftime of their game against Notre Dame.

Williams spent his final two college seasons with USC after transferring from Oklahoma.

With the Trojans, he won the 2022 Heisman Trophy, posting a 66.6 percent completion rate and a career-high 42 touchdown passes.

The 23-year-old stood alongside his family, including his parents Dayna Price and Carl Williams, as his No. 13 jersey was unveiled in the stands of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In his final season with the Trojans, Williams threw for 3,633 yards with a completion percentage of 68.6 with 30 touchdowns.

Williams and USC head coach Lincoln Riley have remained close since his departure last season.

Ahead of the Bears' Sunday game against the Green Bay Packers during Week 11, Riley called Williams to offer some advice.

"Lincoln Riley called me the other day, and just wanted to talk to me," Williams said, according to Sports Illustrated's Charlie Viehl. "Check in, things like that. It's something that he told me my freshman year, when I wasn't in a position that I wanted to be in. I wasn't starting at the time, and he told me to 'keep going.' At that time, I didn't necessarily know what those two words meant. I wanted more than that. I wanted to hear a little more than that, but that's all he told me. I use those words to this day."

Williams' Bears teammate and former Notre Dame player Cole Kmet joined him in the celebration on Saturday.

Williams was drafted by the Bears as the No. 1 overall pick out of USC this season and has thrown for 2,612 yards and 14 touchdowns during the Bears' 4-8 campaign.

Chicago will play its first game since firing head coach Matt Eberflus when it takes on the San Francisco 49ers in Week 14.

The Chicago Bears will officially enter a different era in 2025 with a new head coach who can work with Caleb Williams.

Following Thursday's 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions that featured some of the worst clock management in a crucial situation you will ever see, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported on Friday that Matt Eberflus has been fired.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will finish out the season as Chicago's interim head coach.

Brown's ascent to interim head coach after starting the season as passing game coordinator makes sense.

Williams has looked much more comfortable in the three games since Brown replaced Shane Waldron as offensive coordinator. The rookie quarterback has thrown for 827 yards with five touchdown passes and run for 142 yards since Week 11.

Even before factoring in his stats against the Lions, Williams has been the eighth-best fantasy quarterback from Weeks 11-12 in PPR leagues. His three passing touchdowns against the Lions were his second-most in a game all season (four vs. Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6).

Other encouraging signs for fantasy managers has been the increased production from Bears wide receivers since Brown took over the offense. D.J. Moore had his second-highest scoring fantasy performance of the season against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12 and has more than 20 points in each of the past two games.

Moore had just one game with at least 20 fantasy points in his first 10 games. Keenan Allen has 18 receptions on 31 targets in the past three weeks. He has caught more touchdowns in the past two games (three) than he did in the first eight games combined (two).

The Bears receiver duo were the No. 4 and 5 fantasy wideouts in Week 12. Rome Odunze had double-digit targets in Weeks 11 and 12, but he has yet to translate that into production. He only has 129 yards in the past three games. His lone touchdown came in Week 3.

Given the trajectory for Williams, Moore and Allen with Brown coaching the offense, they should remain must-starts for your fantasy team going forward. Cole Kmet isn't lighting up the stat sheet, but tight end remains a shallow position that he's worth a starting spot going forward.

Even despite having one game with more than 50 receiving yards since Week 8, Kmet entered this week as the No. 12 tight end in fantasy. It's borderline starter production, but there isn't likely to be someone better on the waiver wire at this point in the season.

The Bears' schedule of opposing defenses will be difficult for the fantasy playoffs. They play the Vikings, Lions and Seattle Seahawks from Weeks 15-17, but they have already put up big numbers against the Vikings and Lions in their past two games.

Chicago Bears wide receiver summed things up for his team following Thursday's 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Moore told reporters the team has "s--t the bed" when presented with chances to win close games this season:

It seemed like the Bears might stun the NFL world with a late comeback against the 11-1 Lions when Caleb Williams drove them into scoring position in the final minute. However, he took a sack with 32 seconds left to knock them out of field-goal range.

Rather than call his team's last timeout, head coach Matt Eberflus watched the clock tick down as the offense struggled to get into position. Chicago didn't snap it until there were just a handful of seconds left, which meant Williams had to throw a pass to the end zone that fell incomplete.

This is nothing new for the 2024 Bears, who also lost on a Hail Mary on the final play against the Washington Commanders and a blocked field goal on the final play against the Green Bay Packers. They also lost in overtime against the Minnesota Vikings, meaning they have four losses on the final play of games this season alone.

The Hail Mary was largely a coaching problem, as Chicago didn't guard the sidelines on the penultimate play to allow the Commanders to get into position to throw it. It also didn't call a timeout to settle things down before the Hail Mary and chose not to bring pressure, so the receivers had nothing but time to get to the end zone.

As for the Packers loss, Williams moved Chicago into position to kick the game-winning field goal.

Yet Eberflus chose not to run any more plays with a timeout in the final 30 seconds and settled for a 46-yard field goal, which was blocked.

It has been a season to forget for Eberflus and the Bears, especially since they have been so close to breaking through in these close losses.

Caleb Williams was not a fan of the hit he took from Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell.

The Chicago Bears quarterback took the hit in the third quarter and would eventually head to the blue medical tent. He did return to the game but reflected postgame about how "funky" the play was.

"Um, knee's fine," Williams told reporters, via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. "Yeah, I—that play was funky. Just put it that way. I don't really—you know, I didn't really appreciate the play. He just kind of dove straight at my knee. So I didn't really get that. Definitely kind of frustrated about that one, just 'cause you know, whatever. Yeah, knee's good. Nothing wrong with it. Think I just got a bruise. But the play was—the play was funky."

The Bears lost the game, 23-20, and dropped their sixth consecutive game. Williams went 20-of-39 for 256 yards and three touchdowns in the game and is now up to 2,612 yards with 14 touchdowns and five touchdowns on the season.

Losing Williams would have been a tough blow to a Bears team that is already struggling, so him rebounding quickly from the play was a positive sign. Still, the six-game skid has been troubling for the talented team and while Williams has been efficient, he hasn't been able to elevate the team to some victories.

Williams will get another crack at Campbell and the Lions on Dec. 22 and surely the rookie will look to avoid the linebacker if a similar situation arises.