Chicago Bears rookie Caleb Williams shines in ‘Hard Knocks’ spotlight

The Chicago Bears returned to the national spotlight Tuesday night when HBO Max released the third episode of “Hard Knocks.”

Here are the top takeaways from episode three.

Caleb Williams finally gets the spotlight

While “Hard Knocks” broke down the Bears drafting Williams and followed him through the first two episodes, the show spent most of the third episode following this year’s No. 1 overall pick.

The episode started with Williams meeting with Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, where the two broke down his performance against the Buffalo Bills. Williams said he succeeded against the Bills because of preparation, his confidence and staying within the game. He broke down a big pass to Cole Kmet and a long run deep into the Bills’ red zone.

He also expressed what he learned from his first NFL game.

“Practice is harder than the game,” Williams told Eberflus.

Fans learned why Williams and the offense might’ve had a slow start against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. The episode showed that Williams couldn’t hear Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron in his helmet because the connection between the two was coming in and out.

Once the team switched out his helmet, Williams and the offense started moving, including an impressive throw to Rome Odunze, a near touchdown and a rushing score.

Williams held on to the ball from his first touchdown and put it away in a bag at his locker during halftime.

Bears came close to acquiring Matthew Judon

The episode gave an interesting look into how close the Bears came to acquiring defensive lineman Matthew Judon from the New England Patriots.

In a scene, Bears general manager Ryan Poles broke down why he wanted to trade for Judon to Bears president Kevin Warren. In it, Poles explained that he wanted to get Judon despite a bicep injury that kept him out for most of last season.

Poles revealed that he had a trade set to bring Judon to the Bears in exchange for a third-round pick in next year’s draft if he signed a contract extension. Judon didn’t agree to sign the extension and was traded to the Atlanta Falcons instead.

Poles explained his thinking in a conversation with Bears director of football administration Matt Feinstein.

“I’m tormenting myself, but if you have your own guardrails that we put up to help us stay in the lane, we sure pressed up against them to acquire the player,” Poles said. “But when it comes to losing all flexibility, I don’t think that would be smart, even if he has success. Now if he has 20 sacks, that would make me sick.”

Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent earns some spotlight too

Although much of the episode focused on Williams, Bagent also earned plenty of time. He also earned a compliment from former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan when he met with Poles, a former Boston College teammate.

“I think this kid’s come a long way since last year,” Ryan said. “To have that in the future, that week or two, to get through something. He looks better.”

Bagent also explained how tough it can be being a backup quarterback in the NFL. Scenes showed him explaining everything he’s seeing from the sideline to Eberflus.

While Bagent has tried to help Williams develop by sharing his own experiences from last season’s rookie season, Bagent also said he wants to prove his worth in the league.

“I don’t want to just feel stagnant into this player-coach role,” Bagent said. “There’s still some stuff I want to do out there on the field. Knowing how a season goes for a backup, how long it is and how many opportunities you don’t get once the season starts, I’m really looking forward to taking advantage of these last weeks in the preseason and try to keep in everyone’s mind that I’m not just some chump in the QB room. I can also play at a high level.”

Bears new stadium gets small mention

Not much has been talked about the Bears’ bid for a new stadium on the lakefront and not much changed after episode three.

Scenes showed Warren meeting with his staff to talk about what type of seats they would want a portion of the stadium would have. Not much more was mentioned about the negotiations with that state to earn public funding.

Austin Reed gets another shoutout

Reed earned more screen time in episode three during the rookie talent show. He gave a strong performance of Keisha Cole’s “Love,” which got the best reaction from his teammates so far.