Caleb Williams is not used to losing.

In college, he only lost 10 times in three seasons with Oklahoma and USC. As a rookie in the NFL, he lost 12 times last season with the Chicago Bears.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never lost this much,” Williams said in an interview with Esquire.

The 2024 Chicago Bears season started promising as they got out to a 4-2 start to the season. Then the wheels came off.

In late October, the Bears were seconds away from advancing to 5-2 with a last-minute win over the Washington Commanders. We all know how that game ended. That loss snowballed into a 10-game losing streak, derailing a season that started with playoff aspirations.

“When I got home, I got in my bed. I just dropped a few tears,” Williams told Esquire. “And I was just so beat-up mentally, physically, spiritually.”

That losing streak saw both heartbreaking losses and coaching turnover.

After a Week 9 loss to the 2-6 New England Patriots which saw the offense muster only 3 points, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired. In Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, Williams led the Bears into field goal position with under 3 minutes left to play, including a spectacular throw on 4th down to fellow rookie Rome Odunze.

The Bears ending up losing 20-19 to the Packers at home on a last-second blocked field goal.

Week 11 brought another tough loss, a 30-27 overtime defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings.

Week 12 saw the Bears lose in embarrassing fashion on Thanksgiving Day, where head coach Matt Eberflus failed to utilize a timeout in the final seconds of 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions. Bears players were none-too-happy with how the end of that game played out.

The following day, the Bears fired Eberflus, marking the first time in franchise history the Bears have fired a head coach in season.

After Eberflus’ departure, interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown was promoted to interim head coach. Williams only had three games with Brown as interim offensive coordinator, but the Bears averaged 22.0 points per game during that stretch. Over the next four games – all losses – the Bears averaged only 11.3 points per game.

The Bears righted the ship to beat the Packers 24-22 with a Cairo Santos field goal as time expired in Week 17 to put an end to a strenuous season.

“I’m going to work my tail off to never be in that situation again,” Williams said to Esquire.

Under new Bears head coach Ben Johnson, Williams hopes to learn from the 2024 season and better position the Bears for success in the future.