Bears ‘Hard Knocks’ premiere was almost all about Caleb Williams — with some ironic insight from Nick Saban

Early in Tuesday’s season premier of “Hard Knocks” featuring the Chicago Bears, Nick Saban made a cameo.

The recently retired Alabama coaching legend got his head coaching start in 1990 with Toledo. Bears head coach Matt Eberflus played linebacker at Toledo that season. He invited Saban to Bears training camp to appear in front of “Hard Knocks” cameras and offer up some of his wisdom.

Eberflus finds himself in the midst of a high-stakes opportunity with considerable upside and the downside of derailing his career. The third-year Bears coach enters the season with the promise of a No. 1 pick quarterback in Caleb Williams who’s already being hailed as a savior for a quarterback-starved franchise that’s never produced a 4,000-yard passer.

It’s a situation that comes with scrutiny for both Eberflus and Williams, who will both face intense pressure to succeed — perhaps earlier than is reasonable for a team starting a rookie quarterback. Saban offered up this perspective to Eberflus.

“Here’s my theory on why NFL quarterbacks fail at such a dramatic rate,” Saban said. “To me, expectations are a killer. This kid you’ve got — this kid’s got so much media, so much hype, so much expectation on doing well. And he has to develop so quickly to meet the expectations everybody has for him. It’s almost impossible.”

That irony that Saban doled out this wisdom during an hour-long episode of HBO’s annual training camp mini-series devoted almost singularly to Williams wasn’t lost.

How will Caleb Williams handle the pressure as the expected savior of the Chicago Bears? (James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

How will Williams, Eberflus respond to pressure?

The weight of Chicago is on Williams’ shoulders. It’s a point that was hammered home on “Hard Knocks” repeatedly as it devoted the vast majority of the hour to Williams. Because what or who else would it focus on?

The episode started with a phone call from Eberflus to Williams on draft day that pointed its cameras behind…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-08-07 03:35:24

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