Bears QB Caleb Williams’ biggest transition from college to NFL, per OC

What the Chicago Bears offense will look like during the 2024 season is one of the league’s big mysteries as we settle into the dog days of late spring and summer. Not only has general manager Ryan Poles overhauled the entire Bears roster — and particularly the offense — adding Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, D’Andre Swift and Keenan Allen over the last two months, he’s also hired former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to take over the same position in Chicago.

What Shane Waldron will bring to the table in Chicago remains to be seen. In terms of Waldron’s preferred formations, personnel, and designs, there isn’t much clear-cut data out there to indicate what the Bears offense may end up looking like. After the Seahawks added Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2023 NFL Draft, Seattle increased their use of 11 personnel, while also seeing a notable dip in two tight end or two running back sets. Given the state of Chicago’s wide receiver room, it would be reasonable to expect that personnel-wise, there won’t be much difference between Chicago this year and Seattle last year.

One area where we can seemingly make a safe assumption about Waldron’s offense in Chicago is that Caleb Williams will be operating under center more than he has at any other point in his playing career. While at Oklahoma and USC, Williams was almost exclusively working out of shotgun. In Seattle, Waldron’s offenses were right around league average in terms of plays run with the quarterback taking the snap from under center.

But even with an expected minor alteration in how the ball gets into Caleb Williams’ hands at the beginning of every play, according to a tweet from ESPN Chicago Bears beat reporter Courtney Cronin, Waldron isn’t too concerned with Williams’ progress.

“I think the one thing Caleb has shown is that he can be in all sorts of backfield alignments. He did a great job at his pro day, he’s played quarterback his whole life, so I think the biggest thing will be just the footwork and really mastering that first step from under center, something that he’s taken pride in already and really gotten a jump on in this rookie minicamp. But he’s played the position his whole life, just like these other guys have, so I think there’s a good, natural transition. It wasn’t something where Caleb was starting from total scratch with the drops and his footwork.”