Welcome to Thirsty Thursday where I'll be posting to the blog from happy hour at a local bar and talking about what I'm "thirsty" to see in the upcoming week. I have returned to Backstory Tavern because they have a killer happy hour menu (see below) and I was strapped for time today. Let me know if you have any good happy hour spots in Chicago and I'll try to check them out. Thinking Lotties next week...
This upcoming week I'd like to see Caleb Williams get his feet wet in the Hall of Fame Game vs the Houston Texans and I'd like to see him comfortable in the pocket. To clarify what I mean by "comfortable", I want to see Caleb be a leader in the huddle. He needs to get the ball out in 3 seconds or less and minimize scrambling. Look, I'm sure there's going to be incompletions and bad throws. Williams has had a week of practice to learn OC Shane Waldron's system - which is new to the entire team I might add. I'm not looking for someone to be "good" one week into a new system and team, I'm looking for someone who is confident in their ability to lead from the pocket and learn from their mistakes. I would also like to see Rome Odunze execute routes with speed and agility, and without too much thought. I'm ok if he misses catches but I need to know that he can understand the fundamentals of this new offense, I don't want a clueless receiver on the field. A nice "bonus" if you will, would be seeing the O-Line set up a brick wall around Williams.
Guys its preseason. Let's make sure we're not claiming a Super Bowl if Caleb Williams connects with Rome Odunze for a 35 yard TD (although please God let that happen), or denouncing our defense on a missed tackle. This is an experimental time in the season. Its a time when none of these guys want to get hurt, and its a peak into what's going on behind the curtain as we get ready for the Titans week one.
I'm going to set a line for Caleb Williams snaps this game at 14.5 and take the under. What do you think Bears fans?
Shout out Backstory Tavern again. Great place. Stop by on Thursday and say hi to Charlotte behind the bar, she is fantastic.
sure hope Williams does better against the Titans than he did against the Bears defense on Saturday…. back-to-back pics, oof