Caleb Williams is starting to get comfortable.
With such comfort comes newfound confidence, and after throwing for 300-plus yards in two of the Bears' last three games, the rookie quarterback isn't shying from it.
"He's been bossy lately, telling us that we need to be on the details," receiver DJ Moore said Wednesday, via The Associated Press.
Bossy? What is this, a Kelis song?
"What I mean by bossy is, we don't hit something in practice, he's going to tell us how we need to run it," Moore explained. "We just look at him and be like 'OK.' When we get out there in the game, you just better make sure it works because he's going to have some words for you if you don't. That's him being a leader."
Chicago has needed a leader under center since the departure of Jay Cutler, and by the sound of it, they may have finally found one in Williams. He's certainly progressed over the last few weeks, blossoming from a quarterback who was under so much pressure, he was forced to be a magician just to stay upright.
Now, the Bears are protecting him relatively well. They're running the ball effectively, too, balancing out the offense. Williams has benefitted, using the newfound time to process to find open targets, like when he connected with Moore on a deep post for a beautiful touchdown pass in their runaway win over Carolina in Week 5.
Those kinds of results give quarterbacks cachet, which can go a long way toward succeeding as an offense. Williams is already feeling the boost in confidence and applying it accordingly.
"Partially it was me learning everybody and understanding how everybody reacts to certain things," he said ahead of Sunday's London clash with the Jaguars. "Certain people you can be a little bossy with, certain people you have to talk very monotone and (in) control of yourself."
Like a veteran coach, Williams is figuring out who needs pushed and who needs encouraged. Clearly, he sees Moore in the former group, and not the latter.
"So you are looking at him like, 'Dude, don't be talking to me like that.' But I understand because we need to really connect on that," Moore said. "That's what we did this past week. I took his advice, I listened. Older bro had to take a back seat for a second."
Taking a back seat landed Moore in the end zone not once, but twice Sunday. He'll happily ride back there for the long haul if it keeps producing wins for the Bears.
