Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Caleb Williams reflected on how his rocky rookie year helped him improve
16 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What lessons did Caleb Williams learn from his rookie year?
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I think it comes with the comfort level in terms of knowing what's being asked in terms of the offense. So we're all aligned on what we want a certain route to look like, where we want the ball to be thrown. And so, you know, routes on air, you can go out there and tell a receiver, Hey, you're missing your depth or expect the ball to be at this spot.
Whether we're out there in a practice setting or he likes to keep those guys after and work a little bit more after practice. So, I think he's stepped up and he's continuing to get better every single day. It's just a matter of how many reps can we continue to pile on over the course of training camp.
The familiar and persistent voice of the head coach of your Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson, right there. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody on 104.3 The Score. Do you remember the year 2024 for the Chicago Bears, Marshall Harris? That was not last year's season, but it was two years ago. You're joking, right? I'm not joking because some people put it out of their memory. You're getting older, too.
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't try to bring me up there with you. Listen, yes, I remember very vividly as I told everyone, hey, all that the Bears have proven with this trip overseas over the pond and back is that they can beat bad teams. I'm not a believer yet. And then what happened?
It was bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. And it was a really frightening year because you drafted Caleb Williams. You got the guy. You drafted the number one overall guy, Caleb Williams, the generational quarterback, the elite quarterback. And you're right, got off to a good start. There were some moments, but there were some god-awful moments for Caleb Williams early in his tenure under the tutelage of
Is that what we're calling it? The tutelage of... That's a nice way to describe it because I don't know how much tutoring he received. I wouldn't be that nice. I wouldn't be that nice.
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Chapter 2: How did Caleb Williams' struggles shape his development as a quarterback?
You're probably right. I shouldn't be that nice. Shane Waldron was the offensive coordinator. Matt Eberflus was the overseer of everything.
I'm not going to comment on that. I know you're not. How about under the captivity?
Under the captivity. Fair enough. Is that better? Yes. I heard cap, and I was like, wait, talking about cap space? Captivity. Yes. Under the captivity of Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron, you have this precious object. You have this diamond in Caleb Williams, or at least you think. And he doesn't appear to be learning. He doesn't appear to be developing.
So it's this scary season where veterans in that locker room, I was there, are being pretty transparent with the media about things not going well in that locker room and everybody needing to do their part. It was a frightening season because they end up being 5-12 to Marshall's point where at a certain point in the season, things did go downhill. It made us question everything.
It made me question everything. Am I wrong about Caleb Williams? Is he not this elite quarterback? Does he not have it? Are people right about him, the things that are written about him? And then, of course, after that season, You had more sort of accusations about even Caleb Williams, about how he comported himself in that locker room.
Whether you believe the stuff or not, the sourced article by Tyler Dunn about Caleb not being a great leader and not picking up on things quickly enough. 2024 was a, I'll just say it, it was disastrous.
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Chapter 3: What insights did Caleb Williams share about his training and mindset?
It just felt, it made me feel horrible because you finally thought you had the quarterback and then it made us question because of the way he was managed to a large degree, it made you wonder if they actually had the guy. And he was culpable for some of it too. I'm not saying that Caleb Williams is a perfect quarterback. I've been plenty critical about him over the years.
So it was interesting, Marshall, to listen to Chris Simms doing an interview with Caleb Williams and Williams reflecting on his rookie year and how it made him a better quarterback today. Do you believe this?
Funny enough, I'm happy I had that first year. I haven't had a year like that in a long time. One.
And you mean what? Just struggle?
Yeah, struggle. I mean, I got hit the third most ever in the league 68 times.
Yeah.
Just knowing I need more mentally, physically, just what it takes to be in the NFL, play as a QB, stay healthy, be able to play week to week, mentally, physically, spiritually. So those things I learned. And then without that first year, Case Keenum, he always says, The bad times make the good times feel so much better.
And so having that type of year, you don't necessarily have to go back, you don't have to have another year like that ever again in your career at this point, but you had it and you'll never forget the feeling of not being able to walk up the stairs when you get home after playing a team or something after getting hit so much and things like that.
So it's the mindset, it's the energy output and where you need to put your energy. It's being able to time management all these different things that it takes. I mean, Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday, I mean, you're in here for 12, 13 hours and it's grueling.
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Chapter 4: How does Caleb Williams view the impact of coaching on his performance?
That's Caleb Williams playing catch, having a little conversation with Chris Sims. If you're wondering what that noise was, hopefully you can figure out he was catching the ball, throwing the ball with Chris Sims. And look.
I 100% believe everything Caleb Williams is saying, and I think he is not only a better player but a better person for having been the guy who was Mr. Hollywood, let's be honest, as a Heisman Trophy winner, as USC's quarterback, a superstar, one of one in terms of being the first overall player taken, and a guy who wants to be the best quarterback to ever do it.
I think this is highly relatable content because we've all had setbacks that made us question ourselves, right? And am I doing the right thing? Is this going to even work out? And when you come back from that brink, if you will, and then achieve in the way that year over year Caleb Williams did from his rookie year to his second year in the manner in which he did,
It gives you a deeper appreciation. Anytime I have a friend, family member going through something really tough, like what Caleb Williams went through in year one, I always say, hey, man, if you didn't have this experience, how would your memoir go? That's not going to be exciting to read. That made for a television movie isn't going to be exciting. That documentary is not going to flow.
If the path to success doesn't have any obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere, and it probably would make for a bad book.
Exactly. And so I love Caleb Williams giving us the kind of ā
peek into his mind and where he was and why he is grateful for that experience because now he knows what bad you can learn from bad too he knows what bad looks like and that made him appreciate good better back to your point right before we play the audio about questioning whether or not caleb williams was good i mean did they make the right pick jayden daniels out here doing crazy things for the washington commanders and the jay mccarthy does in the the bears in the first game of the season
Yes, all of that. But at the same time, I had made up my mind once Ben Johnson said, I want to go to Chicago and work with that quarterback because of his credentials. I was like, he'll be fine. That's why I said, I have way more faith in this offense than I do this defense. And people thought I was crazy because they're like, oh, the Bears are defensive.
They're going to be ā I was like, look who the head coach is. You cannot believe if you want, but I think we're at a place now where we can all say we believe more in the offense than we do the defense.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Caleb Williams face during his first NFL season?
Because I wasn't there for all of it. And Ben Johnson keeps making that point too, that there hasn't been, because there's a lot of the practices that we don't see. And Ben Johnson has been saying it's been pretty equal between the offense and the defense right now. I hope that the defense is better, but that's just it with the defense.
It's all hope because there is no discernible player who you look at and say, yeah, this guy's here. He's going to make the Bears defense better this year.
It's okay, Chicago. You don't have to lie to yourselves anymore and say, yeah, the defense is naturally supposed to be ahead of the offense at the start of training camp. You don't have to tell yourself lies and think that the quarterback's going to magically catch up because the quarterback's already here.
He's here. He has arrived. What I heard, too, from that soundbite where he's talking about what was happening in 2024 ā and maybe this is just me spinning it how I want to spin it, but saying that he needs more mentally, he needs more physically, he needs more spiritually. So while he probably didn't develop much physically,
During that season, he did realize because of how bad it was and how devoid of those things it was, he realized things that he needed going forward. And I can tell you who those people are. More mentally, oh, there's Ben Johnson for you. More physically, let's go Colson Loveland on that. We'll give you him. You've got more. You've got more. And then... Spiritually, I'm not really sure.
I was wondering where you were with that. Who's my God guy? Actually, Loveland. Actually, you know what? I think it was Loveland who, when I asked Loveland, do you think that you could have a 1,000-yard season, he said, well, I'll do whatever the team needs me to do. I think he might have said, if it's God's plan, then I'll get 1,000 yards. So I'll go Loveland on the spiritual.
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Chapter 6: Why does Caleb Williams believe setbacks are essential for growth?
I feel like it's been a good year in championships for God. God getting a lot of good mentions.
So he quoted Drake with God's plan.
might have okay it's a great great song right there uh but great video now he's getting he's getting what he needs with ben johnson and it's beautiful too that during these interviews during that interview the word maniac is used to describe ben johnson i love that it's just accepted at this point that guys it's all good take a deep breath he's crazy yes at least you know he's crazy and we've all accepted that ben johnson's a little bit crazy
My favorite part about Ben Johnson running this team and setting the tone and setting the culture is that we don't have to pretend about anything anymore. Matt Eberflusch used to make us pretend that what we saw wasn't what was really going on. Ben Johnson is pretty direct about, yeah, you saw that, and here's why I did that, and that's the way it is.
And we are like, thank you for just being honest and transparent.
Hey, Coach, how's the completion, the accuracy, and the ball placement looking out there for Caleb Williams the other day? It's okay. It's okay. It's okay, was the answer from Ben Johnson. Yeah. He's going to coach speak some stuff and dress up some things. All coaches do. But when it comes right down to it, the guys that you really want to know about, you'll know where he stands with those guys.
That is for sure. Caleb Williams continued to discuss what it has been like to have head coach Ben Johnson.
Yeah, so all right, so you get that year one, but I do want to go back to what you just said because I was coached by psychos as well. Yeah. And I always say on TV, Ben's a psycho in a good way.
In a great way.
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Chapter 7: How does Caleb Williams' background in sports influence his game today?
Obviously, we hunt explosives. I mean, that's the goal. The point is to go score, hunt explosives, and things like that. But sometimes all you need is one play to set up something for ā
Yeah, something else.
Something else. Right. And, you know, I think Ben's done a good job of that over his time as a play caller, now head coach and all that. And so all my trust and belief is in him. And, you know, I feel the same from him. And so we got something good going and I'm really excited and, you know, really excited to be a part of it.
Where was he toughest on you at first?
Oh, man.
What was your toughest adjustment?
Procedure.
Right.
Just making sure everything is right, making sure I'm in the huddle and everything's smooth. We're getting out of the huddle. We're getting in line. We're getting checks. And then from there, I've never been a guy to throw interceptions, so that was never my fault. It's just being able to get all of this right before the snap.
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Chapter 8: What are Caleb Williams' aspirations for the future in the NFL?
The procedure part of it is so true. Again, something I saw and reported on and lots of people reported on was how Ben Johnson would accept nothing but perfection when it came to procedure, getting into the huddle, getting out of the huddle, lining up properly, identifying what you need to identify, or Ben Johnson was going to, he was waiting. to pounce on that.
He's just like, I can't wait for these guys to be a little bit lax out there because I'm going to put on a show, and that's what Ben Johnson did last year and continues to do. Ben's a psycho in a good way. In a good way. Shout out to all my good psychos!
If the devil is in the details, Ben Johnson was determined last offseason his first... Time through, if you will, first season on the job to take his entire team to Hades and back as many times as it took to get what he wanted out of them. And the scary part is we know he didn't get what he wanted out of them. They just happened to have success.
As the process continued, because he didn't get a 70% completion percentage out of Caleb Williams. He didn't get the best running game and most consistent running game in the NFL. He didn't win a Super Bowl. There's a lot of meat left on that bone. That's the best part about all of it. That's the best part about all of it.
This was all just a byproduct of, hey, this is a process and it's going to take more than one year, but here we go.
And sometimes people get angry. I'll make it me. When I say, oh, he's still got a little ways to go, people get angry because they think that's a critique somehow and they can't handle it. But I think it's obvious that there are ā you want the Bears to blow teams out. You want ā to have happen what Ben Johnson said he wanted to have happen, and that is to embarrass teams.
And that was parroted by Caleb Williams. So as great as it was with all the comeback wins, you don't take back any of it. It was phenomenal. It was fun. And you could still do that, but you get those other quarters right, and you're in a great place.
Yeah, they haven't embarrassed anyone of note. They've embarrassed bad teams. I think you brought up the Cleveland Browns. I was like, oh, that was their most dominant one. I was like, who cares?
It's the Cleveland Browns. That's what you should be doing.
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