Back on the practice field to prepare for Sunday night's game in Houston, the Bears offense took a detail-oriented approach Wednesday at Halas Hall.
The unit did not score a touchdown but also did not commit a turnover in last weekend's 24-17 season-opening win over the Titans at Soldier Field.
"We're here getting better," said rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. "Just getting back out here, [we must] make sure we're focused on the small things, the details, whether it's myself [with] footwork, drops, things like that, or whether it's routes, whether it's the run game, hand placements, all these other things when blocking to make sure that as an offense we're successful."
Facing a Tennessee defense led by first-time coordinator Dennard Wilson, Williams completed 14 of 29 passes for 93 yards and a 55.7 passer rating in his highly anticipated NFL debut.
"Going into that game, it was a little weird for me because it was my first game and we didn't really have anything on their D-coordinator," Williams said. "But when I got out there, I was seeing it well. Missed a few passes, obviously, but going back and watching the film, I was in the right place when I was throwing the ball.
"I also had a few batted balls, but [I was] going to the right places, seeing it well, making some O-line adjustments and things like that, having good communication on the sideline with my teammates and coaches."
Williams felt the Bears were close to having a much more productive game through the air than they did.
"I think it was around six throws that, obviously, if we would have hit those, everything would have seemed a lot different," Williams said. "Throws that we hit in practice all the time on simple routes, on intermediate and then the one or two deep balls. If you hit those, the game, everything kind of explodes and things would have been said differently about how we played on offense."
Williams would have liked to perform better in his first NFL start, but the No. 1 pick in the draft was thrilled that the Bears were able to overcome a 17-0 deficit and win their season opener.
"Felt super excited about not necessarily how I actually performed, but being able to come out with that win and being able to help lead these guys to that win," Williams said. "Feels good, really excited. It builds confidence when you can come out and do that. We're making sure we get the small things down so we can dominate and have fun doing it when we get out there on the field as a team."
As he prepares for Sunday night's contest against the Texans, Williams revealed that the one aspect of his game he'd most like to improve from the opener is his pass drops.
"Sometimes I rushed my drop a little bit, not needing to," he said. "One specific route that I can think of is Rome [Odunze] when, I think it was a 10-yard route right over the ball, I rushed my drop and tried to juice it in there a little bit and missed. I didn't need to. Just trying to hurry up and get the ball to him, getting it in his hands as fast as possible so he can make magic and do what he does.
"Just making sure I'm trusting the drop, trusting the reads and getting through them; I would say that's probably the biggest thing that I'm focused on. And then my finishes on my play fakes or anything like that."
Beginning Monday morning when they watched tape together and continuing through the middle of the week, coach Matt Eberflus has been impressed with Williams' attitude and mentality.
"He was really good with the players, owning up to everything and taking responsibility for the performance and accountability," Eberflus said. "That's what you need from leaders on the football team, not just him. And moving forward, coming in [Wednesday] morning and figuring out what we're doing, how we're doing it and having conversations with him, I think he's in a good spot."
