JUST IN Report: Matt Eberflus on Caleb Williams: ‘Everybody’s rallying around him Due to….

Report: Matt Eberflus on Caleb Williams: ‘Everybody’s rallying around him’

Eberflus used a strong example to explain how the Bears locker room has rallied around their new QB

On this episode of Football Night in Chicago, Dave Wannstedt joins Laurence Holmes to discuss Caleb Williams’ first OTAs. Wanny talks about what he would expect to see from the rookie quarterback during his first full team practice

Amid the Bears’ decision to favor rookie Caleb Williams over Justin Fields, questions of the locker room’s response were justified to the franchise-altering move.

The locker room, along with the city and the fans, were major proprietors of Fields remaining as the team’s quarterback. Everyone in the locker vehemently supported Fields’ return. Fans chanted his name during the season’s end.

But it’s a new era. The Bears drafted Williams, knowing it would be an adjustment for the team and the locker room. But head coach Matt Eberflus is happy to report the locker room has quickly adapted to the rook.

And he used a strong example to compare the Bears’ locker room to one of the strongest examples of a team’s cohesiveness.

“Once [Tony] Romo got hurt, when he went down in that preseason game out in Seattle, the team just rallied around [Prescott],” Eberflus said to Albert Breer. “And I feel that already in our building here. Everybody’s rallying around him. You can feel that with the reps that we got with some of the first on-field stuff we’ve done, with the veterans. You can see the offense, they’re real supportive, and same with the defensive guys. And his personality is infectious. He gets along with everybody; he’s very easy to insert into a locker room.”

Jaylon Johnson was the most prominent Bears figure to speak about the locker room culture, as it pertained to Williams’ insertion. He said Williams shouldn’t waltz in with a “Hollywood” attitude. Upon Williams’ arrival, the two cleared the air and have since resolved the miscommunication.

Williams, according to Ryan Poles, reached out to several of his new teammates upon being drafted, including most of the defense. He also touched base with all the rookies who were drafted after him to welcome them to the team.

Outside of the locker room, the Bears were also able to start training him for his next position ahead of the NFL Draft, Albert Breer reported on Monday.

MORE: How the Bears started onboarding Caleb Williams before the draft: Report

“It also gave the Bears the opportunity to start subtly onboarding Williams,” Breer wrote about the Bears’ early comfortability with Williams. “As such, the team used the three one-hour Zooms it was allowed to do with the quarterback before the draft to get him ready to run the offense, rather than deploying them as a tool to assess him, like you would with other prospects.

“During the first one, the Bears taught Williams the terminology, giving him a foundation on what to call formations and motions within new OC Shane Waldron’s scheme. During the second, they started installing their base, normal-down plays. During the third, they put in red zone and third-down plays.”

And in that process, of the Bears throwing their playbook at Williams even before they called his name at the draft, the Bears became even more impressed with their next quarterback.

“Just in terms of him the person, it’s been outstanding,” Eberflus said to Breer. “I’m talking about a worker—this guy is a worker. He wants to learn, he wants to know everything about the offense, he’s a really good learner, asks great questions, has been great in the quarterback room. I’ve been in there pretty much every time with those guys, and that’s been great, to see that relationship grow with him and Tyson [Bagent], and [QB coach] Kerry [Joseph] and Shane, the guys that are in there. And there’s not a lot of people in there, because we keep it tight, and that’s been wonderful.”

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