Caleb Williams Gets Bailed Out By His Defense For Once

It would be hard to blame Caleb Williams if he had walked up to anyone on the Chicago Bears' sideline Sunday and asked, "You mean, it can be like this?"

There's plenty about Williams' NFL regular-season debut Sunday at Soldier Field that was probably somewhat similar to what he experienced at the college level, where he split his time between two historic powerhouses in Oklahoma and USC.

But after his two seasons with the Trojans, it's likely that Williams was pleasantly surprised to watch his defense make some huge plays that spearheaded an epic comeback win over the Tennessee Titans.

With Williams at the helm last season, the Trojans ranked third in the nation by scoring 41.8 points per game. They still managed to go just 8-5 on the year, thanks in large part to a defense that gave up 34.4 points per game, which ranked 121st out of 133 FBS teams.

So, you can imagine Williams' delight Sunday when his Bears defense gave up just 17 points and forced multiple turnovers, including a clutch pick-six in the fourth quarter that gave them the lead:

Turns out, Williams even called the pick-six from the bench:

Williams didn't exactly light up the stat sheet in his first career start, completing 14 of his 29 passes for just 93 yards and no touchdowns. But considering how many times he put up incredible numbers in college only to come out on the losing side, I'm betting he'll take this scenario all day long.

There will be plenty of times this season where Williams will pull his own weight and lead the offense to high-scoring performances. For now, this year's No. 1 overall pick will sleep soundly tonight with a 1-0 record, thanks to a dominant defensive performance that would have been completely foreign to him and the Trojans last season.

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