Thomas Brown: Why Bears QB Caleb Williams has little flexibility to change plays

One big trait in the development of a young quarterback is their ability to read opposing defenses at the line of scrimmage, and if necessary, make a change in play call when suitable. For Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, he has not had that luxury in his first season, especially under the tenure of interim head coach Thomas Brown, who has limited the freedom Williams has to change the play call at the line of scrimmage.

Speaking to the media this week ahead of their regular season finale, Brown was asked about how much freedom the rookie quarterback has, and the answer was very limited. Based off specific play calls, Brown suggested that any change in play must be built into that exact play call, and described the situations in which Williams has to consider before any change in a play can be called.

"Very little," Brown said when discussing the freedom Williams has to change a play call at the line of scrimmage. "Most of it is based off being able to have it built into a particular call, or being able to have an alert. Whether it be a run, run to pass, run to play action pass, run to keeper or vice versa. Obviously from a third down standpoint, a lot more peer progression, a lot less coverage-based reads, not a lot of man-versus-zone alerts, to alleviate some stress off of him [Williams] it's just stuff that shows up in the game. For the most part, not a whole lot."

Having gone through three different offensive coordinators and two head coaches in his rookie year, it'll be interesting to see what the next head coach of the Bears does with Williams and his freedom at the line of scrimmage. He's undoubtedly going to learn to develop the ability to change plays at the line of scrimmage, when given the opportunity, but that was not readily available to him in his rookie season.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Why Bears QB Caleb Williams has little flexibility to change plays