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What’s wrong with Caleb Williams’ Deep Ball?
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What’s wrong with Caleb Williams’ Deep Ball?

Caleb Williams is mystified by his inaccuracy, especially on longer throws.

This has been the topic of many analysts over the past week after the Bears failed to score a touchdown against Arizona. Analyzes show it is inaccurate, but not why.

The quarterback who was so accurate throwing deep in college is no closer now.

According to NFLGSIS stats, the Bears are shooting 19 percent when throwing deep to the left, which is 31st in the league, and 19 percent when throwing deep to the right, which is last in the league.

Williams’ success rate of 61.2% isn’t good, but his expected success rate, based on NextGen stats analyzing his throws, is 63%, so he’s underperforming. They trail him by an average of 8.5 yards in expected air yards, which is the eighth longest among starters. But it is only 27th for aerial projects carried out.

Pro Football Focus ranked him 50th among all NFL QBs in deep throws. The only QBs he rates higher than are Tyler Huntley and Mitchell Trubisky, a pair of backups.

When asked Wednesday if Williams has any mechanical issues when he throws, Bears coach Matt Eberflus would not confirm that.

“I wouldn’t say anything mechanically,” Eberflus said. “I talked to him about rhythm, just rhythm and timing as he was going through. He was pointing at the guys as he was going through, the first guy working all the way through the fourth and fifth guy.

“It’s just normal quarterbacking and progressions and you just have to be cleaner with it, be more consistent with it. When he does that, it’s a good operation.”

Basically, Eberflus says Williams just needs to be quicker and more comfortable hitting his potential targets on offense.

“The main thing would be what I said,” Eberflus said. “Just follow the progressions and make sure he’s following them the right way, then go through one through four.”

Williams was asked about his frustration with passing issues becoming a problem.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “As you said, I worked hard over the years when I wanted to become a quarterback where accuracy was the most important thing. I still pride myself on that. Not being accurate, not being on time with things is frustrating because it was kind of my thing. Something that I was at least pretty solid at.

“Right now, I’m not as strong as I’ve been, not as strong as I’m proud of. I’m definitely going to get there, we’re going to get there, I’m going to get there. It starts with me and it comes down to from there.

Williams even said it’s no fun watching himself in a movie when he’s going that way.

The No. 1 overall draft pick offered him a few ways to escape this situation. The key is to be better in sync with your receivers.

“I think part of it is being on the same page and being able to find ways before or after practice, during practice, being able to talk about it a little bit more, being able to run those routes in practice, being able to (work) against different coverages and things like that, shells and one-highs and cover-2s and cover-4s and things like that and how (defenses) handle it and most likely learn the way wide receivers are going to attack the defense,” Williams said. “And then I think from there it’s going to help.

“And then, and then, some throws just give my guys a chance like the one (against Arizona) to DJ on the sideline that I slightly missed out of bounds. I tried to throw to him a perfect ball instead of giving it seven, A six year old guy has a chance to make a catch.

Basically, it’s going to take a lot of work.

Twitter: BearsOnSI