LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- At this time last season, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was trying to survive weekly so he could make it to the next game. After taking a season-high nine sacks in a 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 10, Williams' sack total stood at 38. That figure would continue rising, and by the end of his rookie season, the former No. 1 pick had been sacked a league-high 68 times, the third most in NFL history.
A conscious effort to bring that number down led the Bears to overhaul the interior of their offensive line in and around free agency. That was the starting point for Chicago in doing everything it could to protect its investment at quarterback.
Another part would call on Ben Johnson's scheme to protect the 23-year-old Williams while helping to account for his vulnerabilities. Through the same nine-game stretch as a year ago, he has taken only 14 sacks.
"It's huge," Williams said. "Part of it is the guys I've got up front. They've been awesome for me and for us. Kudos to them and love those guys up front.
"The other half of it is I think coach's emphasis on me getting the ball out, and when it's time to go make a play, make the plays, and when it's time to throw it away, throw it away. And so I think just doing a better job of that overall this year, and I've got to keep getting better with that and try and lower the sacks."
Williams had his second game this season without a sack in Chicago's 24-20 win over the Giants. That has happened only one other time in the last 10 seasons for the Bears, when quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley did not take a sack in Weeks 5 and 12 of the 2016 season.
That decrease in sacks that Williams is experiencing is significant and begins with an offensive line that ranks second in Pass Block Win Rate (71%) compared to 15th last season. The upgrades made on the interior of the offensive line are providing the Bears a significant return on investment: Center Drew Dalman and right guard Jonah Jackson have given up one sack each through nine starts. Left guard Joe Thuney has allowed none. According to Next Gen Stats, the Bears' interior linemen have averaged a 5.8% pressure rate allowed (8th lowest) and a 0.2% sack rate (3rd lowest).
Most notably, it's taking longer for Williams to get sacked when he does, which points to the Bears' offensive line. Chicago's time to sack is 5.62 seconds, according to ESPN Research, which is the second longest behind the Philadelphia Eagles (5.70 seconds). The Bears have cut their pressure rate allowed from 38.1% last season (29th) to 32.1% this season (11th) despite Williams averaging 3.27 seconds to throw compared to 2.92 seconds during his rookie season.
Johnson credited a more effective rushing attack and the tight ends, receivers and running backs who get involved with blocking in the Bears' dropback passing game. After allowing a league-high 13 unblocked sacks last season, the Bears are the only offense not to allow an unblocked sack this year.
And there's no denying the role Williams has in his sack numbers going down, too.
"There's no mistaking what Caleb can do," Johnson said. "He just, he feels it, and the way he evades is, I think, it's second to none."
Williams was sacked on 10.0% of his dropbacks last season and has seen that figure shrink to 4.2% through the first 10 weeks. Averaging the third-lowest pressure to sack ratio this season (12.8%) shows just how effective he is at avoiding pass rushers.
"It's interesting because you get just kind of the whole process is like, 'let's get the ball out faster, let's get through the reads," Williams said. "Sometimes I get through my reads actually too fast, maybe because of leverage, or maybe because of the coverage that I'm seeing. And sometimes you just need to hang on. We've got special guys, so sometimes you need to hang on it and let it rip. And then other times, there was a play that I actually avoided a sack, but I could have thrown a touchdown this past game. It's those small things, just the big play's right there. I saw it and I was about to rip it and I just saw a color flashing. He was running right at me. I tried to get out of it, got out of it, and threw an incompletion.
"It's those things that, the next level and something that I talk about with coach all the time is that's the next level. I do have this ability to get out of stuff but also there are going to be times where let's just go and drop back and let's deliver the ball. I've done it every so often. But just doing that more often and just finding the balance is tough. But that's whatn searching for."
Williams later clarified that he was referencing two plays -- a fourth-down throw to DJ Moore in the end zone when he escaped Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence by moving to his right and another throw to Rome Odunze down the middle of the field when he avoided another Giants pass rusher.
"There's a few chances in there, too, that we stay in there just a tick longer and we deliver that football even when the house is burning down," Johnson said, "When we talk about it with him, it's you don't want to take away that natural instinct that he has but yet there's a little bit of, man if we stay in here, I think this unlocks even more of your game and we'll have some more explosive plays potentially.
"We're working through that, and I think he's right on track with where we had hoped we would see him at midseason."