Dan Wiederer shares what the NFL thinks of Caleb Williams
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Dan Wiederer, Bears reporter and senior writer for The Athletic. You're going to be relying on a lot of young players, guys that have to materialize into who they thought they were. The Bears are who we thought they were.
On-air contributor for 670 The Score. We'll mention this mainly because Dan Wiederer said we would mention this nugget. Host of the Take the North podcast. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Dan Wiederer. Thanks, Coach. We'll go first to Dan Wiederer. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score. Weezy!
This is Rahimi Harrison-Brody on 104.3 The Score, and we now bring in on our hotline, it is Mark's Take the North podcaster partner, TTS. Dan Weterer, he is the senior writer for The Athletic covering the Bears. He is the co-host of that Take the North podcast with Mark. That makes me laugh. And he also wrote an article that speaks to what we are talking about. We discussed earlier what Ben Johnson wants to see in Caleb Williams. We also talked about the concept of what Ryan Poles wants to see in year two. And Dan, you wrote an article in The Athletic that just came out over the weekend that also adds to this discussion.
Yeah, I mean, look, I think the word that we're going to hear a lot going forward here is efficiency and then trying to define it through the eyes of Ben and the coaching staff in regards to just being a little bit more on script, more regularly, of being able to find those easy completions that are schemed up for you, the checkdowns that get you out of jams and being able to get that completion percentage above 60 and then towards 62 and then ultimately towards 65 this season on the way to 70 because Ben's not backing off. That 70 goal, but he did, I think, temporarily lower the bar here for 2026 to get him to make a jump from 58 to 65, and they believe there's some efficiency things that they can use to get there.
Dan, what are people around the league saying about Caleb Williams? Well, I thought it was really interesting. Obviously, we all knew how many heads he turned with the things he was able to do late in games with the highlight reel plays he was able to make. But when you start drilling down a little bit deeper on that and understanding kind of the psychological pressure that that then puts on an opponent, it's really real, right? You understand that teams now understand that you can't count this guy out of a game. And so that creates a little bit of a demand if you're an opponent, if you're an opposing offense. Well, we got to score a little more because we don't want to keep the Bears alive. The defense on the other side has got to feel this extra pressure, even with a two-score lead, to keep it there.
Otherwise, that belief comes in over there. And I had one personnel man tell me last week, you don't fear Caleb, but you have full respect for what he's capable of when he gets hot. And I thought that was a really good way to put it because it's just like, man, like that's documented now, you know, all these comebacks, all these big time plays, it's documented now that he's really, really dangerous.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:20
2
What insights does Dan Wiederer share about the Bears at the NFL Combine?
5:20–11:22
3
How does efficiency play a role in Caleb Williams' development?
11:22–14:06
4
What are the opinions around the league regarding Caleb Williams?
14:06–23:06
Speakers
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