Lake Forest, Illinois (AP) Keenan Allen and Caleb Williams had plenty of opportunity to bond while staying at the same hotel during minicamp.
Chicago’s new receiver and valued quarterback helped each other grasp the playbook when they weren’t watching the NBA finals or playing Monopoly Deal. The connection between the six-time Pro Bowler and the No. 1 overall draft pick could have a significant impact on whether the Bears make the much-anticipated move.
“I’m not a guy who masters the playbook by sitting at home and looking at it,” Allen said Saturday, following the team’s first training camp practice. “That is not how I learned it. I am a trial and error guy. I learn through mistakes. Just being able sit there with him, he’d call out the play, I’d draw it up, vice versa, while we’re sitting there watching the NBA playoffs.”Chicago hasn’t finished with a winning record since the 2018 NFC North championship season. The Bears have just three playoff appearances since the 2006 Super Bowl season, but they seem poised for a turnaround. A big reason is the splashy moves they made in the offseason.
Chicago traded quarterback Justin Fields to Pittsburgh, clearing the way to draft Williams, the former Heisman Trophy winner from USC. The Bears also executed a big trade for a play-making receiver for the second year in a row, this time landing Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers after acquiring DJ Moore from Carolina prior to the 2023 season.
These were the most significant additions for a team looking to make the playoffs after finishing 10-24 the previous two seasons under general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus. Last year, the Bears improved their defense and went from three to seven wins. Now, they believe they have enough offensive weapons to compete for a postseason spot.
One crucial factor is the relationship between Williams and Allen.
They had time to discuss each other’s preferences and explain how they envision plays evolving. Allen also shared what he learned receiving passes from Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert over his 11 seasons with the Chargers.
“We’d be sitting down just eating dinner and playing cards and then we’d have a break and rattle off some plays and that was when I was first learning, and he’d kind of have an idea of what the play was,” Williams told me. “So it’s nice having people like that around.”Chicago was near the bottom of the NFL in passing last season and ended 18th in scoring. However, the offense has a different appearance.
Shane Waldron is the Bears’ new coordinator, and the team has made other moves to improve its offensive. They signed running back D’Andre Swift and former Charger Gerald Everett, giving them another pass-catching tight end to complement veteran Cole Kmet.
Everyone’s attention is currently focused on the quarterback. Along these lines, Allen stated that his job is straightforward.
“Just try to make it easy for him,” he told me. “Make sure we’re on the same page and get to the locations he likes, whatever he sees vs what I see. “And then simply being on the same page.”
The Bears are counting on Williams to improve in ways that Fields and Mitchell Trubisky never did despite being taken with high picks, thanks to his arm strength and poise in the pocket, as well as his ability to escape defenders and make throws on the run. However, this is not the only thing that jumps out.”I feel like he’s in a place where he’s confident in himself,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. “He’s not going to allow a bad day or a bad game bother him too much. It’s more about how to maintain that momentum, how to make progress when things are going well, and then how to stack days or weeks.”
Leave a Reply