Caleb Williams shares awesome secret to how he stays positive during Bears’ rough season

More often than not, highly touted quarterback prospects who fail do so not because of a lack of physical ability but instead because they don’t have the mental makeup to handle the pressures that come along with playing the hardest position in sports.

That won’t be a problem for Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.

Williams, the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, has confirmed during his rookie season that his physical ability is rare. He’s currently on the longest interception-free streak in the league and set an NFL record for the most games by a rookie without a pick. He’s rewritten the Bears’ rookie passing records and has a chance to finish the season as the most productive first-year passer from this year’s crop of rookies.

Sure, Williams has had his fair share of rookie mistakes, too. He’s held onto the ball too long, has missed some open receivers, and his deep ball needs improvement. None of those deficiencies are unfixable, though, one good offseason of work will make his on-field performance even better in 2025 than it’s already been this year.

Indeed, the most impressive part of Williams’ rookie season has nothing to do with what’s happening on the field. Instead, it’s what’s happening off of it.

Williams has been forced to endure a head coaching change and three offensive coordinators in his first 14 NFL games. It’s a state of affairs that would break most rookies in his situation. But not Williams, and he has a powerful reason why.

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“This is going to sound crazy, but you talk to yourself, to be honest,” Williams said, via ESPN.com. “You motivate yourself, you encourage yourself. You have positive affirmations, is the word, that you say to yourself. With that, it makes the days better, it makes when you’re going through a tough patch, it makes those days a little bit easier rather than pulling yourself down, telling yourself you’re this and that. Like I said, it sounds kind of crazy, but I tell myself certain things: ‘I am great. I will be great.’ All these different things. So, I think that’s one of the biggest things, is not pulling yourself down and being gracious with yourself.”

There’s a reason why Caleb Williams has had so much success in his football career, dating back to high school to his Heisman Trophy resume in college and his status as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He knows how good he is, and he knows that adversity and hardships are only temporary for players who are indeed great. Still, he knows there are things he needs to improve, too.

“It’s frustrating,” Williams said of his off-target throws. “I hate missing passes, especially ones that I’ve been pretty consistent on for a good amount of time. That’s coming. The progress has, over this football season, it’s been growing for myself and things like that of routes and combinations of routes put together and seeing all these different defenses and throwing all these footworks together. The progress has been on a steady trend upwards, but I would say it is pretty frustrating on missing some of these passes that I’ve missed.”

The Chicago Bears are lucky to have Williams, even if the 2024 season hasn’t lived up to the hype and expectations that probably never should’ve existed to begin with.