Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams threw four touchdowns in the 35-16 beating of the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, a performance Sky Sports’ Jason Bell said was “an honour to watch”.
Williams became only the third QB to throw four TDs in an International series game in London – following in the footsteps of Tom Brady (2012) and Blake Bortles (2017) – and the first Bears rookie to do so in any game since 1999.
Williams – the No 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft – also became just the second rookie quarterback to win a game in London, with Bell labelling the 22-year-old “special”.
“It was an honour to watch him,” he said. “He was on point.
“We know this guy is talented – we talked about it all throughout the draft – but, as a rookie, you can struggle at times.
“It’s all about making things happen. You saw the play designs, you saw the trickeration and you saw him take advantage of it.
“He makes things look really easy, and that’s because of his command of this offense. He can deliver with pinpoint accuracy.
“Caleb Williams is special!”
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Chicago Bears celebrate Keenan Allen’s touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars with some tea in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium end zone.
Bell added: “It’s so hard for these young quarterbacks, especially the top draft picks, we expect a lot out of them.
“Give them time, give them sympathy, compassion and the talent will rise through. That’s exactly what is happening.”
The Williams-inspired win is Chicago’s third-straight on the season and moves them to 4-2 on the year, and the Bears rookie himself said he was reaping the benefit of his increased comfort in the league.
Williams was asked in the post-match press conference what he credits his success to after backing up a 300-yard performance in last week’s win over the Carolina Panthers with his four-TD effort in London.
“Offensive line, coaching, the leadership on this team, the constant mindset of keep going and us believing in each other, that is what I credit it to,” he answered.
“Throughout this whole process of these past couple games we’ve had, I think I’ve been seeing it well.
“That starts throughout the week, watching film, in practice, talking to the coaches, players and things like that.
“Obviously, you study, you watch, and do all these other things, but once the ball snaps, you have to know what you have to do and be confident about it.
“It’s about having the comfort level of playing football, having that feel for the game.”
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Cole Kmet does it all on this play, scoring the touchdown before standing in as back-up long snapper for the Chicago Bears.
Third-year Bears head coach Matt Eberflus was also full of praise for his rookie quarterback after the match
“I always look at the QBR [quarterback rating], and that was good, in the 120s again,” he told reporters. “That’s consistency. You want the progress to be linear but it’s not always that way.
“But we feel that he took a step in the right direction, our football team took a step in the right direction of playing that complementary football.
“He’s always been good enough in terms of the talent and those things. But he’s learning the game, learning our offense, learning the skill sets our guys have and how to utilize those. He’s going a good job with that.”
What’s next?
The Jaguars will remain in London as they prepare to host the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium, playing back-to-back games in the UK for the second year running. Chicago meanwhile head into a bye week before visiting the Washington Commanders in Week Eight.
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