After the Bears lost to the Vikings on Monday night in Week 15, their rookie quarterback Caleb Williams said his first year in the NFL has been both “frustrating and encouraging.”
The frustrating part of things was his focus when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday. Williams has already lost as many games as he did during three years in college and he said that he’s learned that “losing is one of those things that really affects me.” Williams added that the “toughest part is fighting yourself” and that he’s worked to keep a positive mindset in place despite the disappointing results.
“This is going to sound crazy, but you talk to yourself, to be honest,” Williams said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com. “You motivate yourself, you encourage yourself. You have positive affirmations, is the word, that you say to yourself. With that, it makes the days better, it makes when you’re going through a tough patch, it makes those days a little bit easier rather than pulling yourself down, telling yourself you’re this and that. Like I said, it sounds kind of crazy, but I tell myself certain things: ‘I am great. I will be great.’ All these different things. So, I think that’s one of the biggest things, is not pulling yourself down and being gracious with yourself.”
In addition to working on his mindset, Williams said that he has also identified “five to eight” things about his game to focus on come the offseason. Passing accuracy is one of the areas he’d like to improve and the hope in Chicago will be that all the self-examination leads to better results than they managed this year.
