LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Caleb Williams took a deep dive into the tape from his NFL debut. The rookie quarterback broke it all down, from decision making to technique to his reaction to pressure. He focused on why something happened more than the result itself, placing a critical on eye on everything that happened Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

Some conclusions came from that.

Williams saw the field well but missed some throws he most always makes. Oh, and NFL players are so good that margin for error is miniscule.

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“Having an understanding of those two things is very important to keep growing and progressing, and to not lose faith in whether it’s the play, the team, yourself, the offense, whatever the case may be,” Williams said in a Wednesday press conference. “You keep that confidence and understand that we obviously didn’t play as well as we wanted to, but we came out with a 24-17 Chicago Bears win.”

Overall takeaway: Week 1 didn’t go great, but the mistakes are fixable. Better seems possible soon, if a few things can get ironed out.

The Bears won despite Williams completing 48.3 percent of his passes for 93 yards. That stat line looks a little different with some minor tweaks, Williams believes, which would’ve changed the narrative surrounding his first regular-season game.

“I think it was around six throws that obviously, if we would have hit those, everything would have seemed a lot different,” Williams said. “Throws that we hit in practice all the time on simple routes, one intermediate (route) and then one or two deep balls. If you hit those, everything kind of explodes and things would have been said differently about how we played on offense.”

That’s why Williams emerged from his film review believing better is on the immediate horizon. That’s a plus for a Bears offense looking for a spark during a big Week 2 clash with the host Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football.

Head coach Matt Eberflus has been impressed by Williams’ reaction to an underwhelming performance. He has been honest about his mistakes, and not just in private meetings. That’s a sign of good leadership.

“He was really good with the players, owning up to everything and taking responsibility for the performance and (has had) accountability,” Eberflus said. “That’s what you need from leaders on the football team, not just him. And, moving forward — coming in this morning and figuring out what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and having conversations with him — I think he’s in a good spot.”

Williams’ candor about a subpar performance, even when talking to the press, was somewhat surprising. Young players can be stoic, standoffish or in full-on spin mode when publicly discussing a bad day at the office.

Not Williams. He freely admitted what didn’t go right – he even volunteered that he rushed some dropbacks – and that he missed passes he normally completes. That’s also a sign of confidence, something required when trying to work things out at the NFL level.

Williams is focused on doing the fundamental things right that lead to bigger plays. He’s moving forward comfortable in the offensive operation, protection calls, his field vision and decision making, foundational elements to good quarterback play. Being more accurate separates him from a far more efficient offensive performance, one that will be required against the Texans.

“We’re building on the small things, making sure we get the small things down so we can dominate and have fun doing it,” Williams said, “when we get out there on the field as a team, as a collective.”

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