Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is fresh off one of his best performances as a pro against one of the league’s toughest defenses, but this week’s game poses his biggest challenge yet.
Williams and the Bears not only had only three days to prepare for their next game, but also have to face the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions on the road in a nationally televised contest.
The short week is the first of Williams’ pro career, and in his Tuesday press availability he said that he’s trying to minimize distractions and focus on the bare essentials.
“There is a little less me-time so you have to focus on your sleep recovery, most important things,” he said. Especially in a week like this is sleep, hydration and eating right, eating well to be able to recover after a tough game that we just had versus another divisional opponent.”
Williams said there is a “lot of newness” in the way the team has had to approach this week, with limited time to practice, analyze film and to gameplan for a way to take down a team that is 10-1 on the season and is arguably one of the current Super Bowl favorites, if not the top of the heap among NFL teams.
Couple those challenges with the fact the Bears have lost five consecutive games, and Williams says that it’s just about continuing to fight and ultimately find the light at the end of the tunnel.
“When those tough times happen, they don’t last forever. You have to keep going,” he said. “You don’t lose confidence, trust, you keep going, you keep fighting. That’s how I go, that’s how the team goes.”
Williams set the Bears’ rookie record for passing yards in a season after his Week 12 performance against the Minnesota Vikings, and also tied the Bears’ rookie record for touchdowns in a season after throwing his 10th and 11th touchdown passes of the year.
The two teams will square off at Detroit’s Ford Field on Thursday morning, with kickoff set for 11:30 a.m. CST on CBS.
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