Bears are making sure they give Caleb Williams every training camp opportunity to start fast

The Chicago Bears wasted zero time in naming Caleb Williams the starter after taking him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and now that training camp has finally arrived, the former USC star is going to get every single opportunity to hit the ground running by the time the Tennessee Titans travel to Soldier Field in Week 1.

"He's done a really good job with studying. [Bears offensive coordinator] Shane [Waldron] and those guys put together a really good program for him to be able to study and level up that way," Bears head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters Friday.

"We're looking for improvement... from the first practice to the fourth practice. We'll take a day off, and then we'll assess where he is. Then we're going to do it the same thing again for the next stack of practices. And if we look back, then we get to the 50 days, and we're at the opener - he's going to be from here [and] he's going to be all the way here. The concepts were there in the summer and he did a nice job of learning those; formations, motions, everything that we asked him to do. He's going to level up from there and keep doing that during camp."

It's a good process on the Bears end and it should really help with Williams' growth. There will, naturally, be speed bumps and growing pains along the way, but that's typical in this kind of situation. Plus, there's a positive spin to that side of things and it's the fact that the Bears defense isn't letting a rookie QB, no matter how talented he may be, march up and down the field on them during practice.

Eberflus and Bears general manager Ryan Poles also know their futures are 100% tied of that to Williams. And, since they've already anointed him starter, they have to push all their chips to the middle of the table. Supporting Williams to the fullest extent is the organization's top priority, as we've seen over the course of the offseason via the moves that were made to create a solid infrastructure around the rookie quarterback.

"For me, it's just believing in Caleb, you know, putting him in there and [saying], 'Let's go.' I think that the expectation is him to be the starter [and] he was the starter when we drafted him, and that's what we put him in," said Eberflus. "We put him in the position to be that, and we're going to do a great job of supporting him to get him ready for the first game."

As for Williams' preseason action, things should follow last year's lead, which according to Eberflus, will be around 45-55 reps, depending on the context of each week.

Close to 20 reps per game, at the highest average, is solid exposure for a rookie and that will help even more, obviously.

"We're discussing it with him and making decisions, but [we] certainly want to get him some reps. I know the guys, last year, got 45 to 55 reps, in terms of those guys and we're looking right in that range. We'll see. But again, it's always week to week, because you got to see what the health of your line is and where everybody is. But certainly, all those exposures are equally as valuable."

The Bears have a plan for Williams, but obviously, what is put on paper doesn't always happen in reality. Now, it's about making all of this come to fruition over the coming weeks and months.