Lions Admit Controversial Caleb Williams Strategy After Week 13 Drama

The Detroit Lions are fresh off of a closer-than-expected win in Week 13 over the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving. Detroit took a 23-7 lead late in the third quarter of that NFC North showdown, but the Bears came storming back, putting up 13 unanswered points to make it a one-possession game.

Chicago then had a chance to tie or even win on the final possession, but its now-infamous bungling of the last 30 seconds resulted in a single play that came up way, way short of pulling off the upset.

Plenty of drama has followed in the wake of this meeting, with the Bears deciding to fire head coach Matt Eberflus, who's invented new ways to lose in disastrous fashion this year. However, the Lions have received some postgame blowback as well in regards to a few physical tackles on Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams.

With that face-off in the rearview mirror, Detroit has started to open about its approach to slowing down Williams last Thursday.

On his podcast, Lions star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown revealed the coaching staff made punishing Williams for his tap-dancing near the sidelines on runs a priority. Dan Campbell told players "we're going to hit his a**" whenever he tries to extend plays and doesn't just go straight out of bounds.

That was great scouting by Campbell and co., because Williams tried to do just that on Thanksgiving. However, Detroit linebacker Jack Campbell remembered his coaches' words and made an aggressive tackle on the dual threat that had the Bears' sideline up in arms. Yet, since Williams wasn't clearly going out of bounds -- which would protect him from contact -- the referees made a correct no-call on the play.

Williams himself took issue with the legal tackle by Campbell, saying he didn't "appreciate" the takedown and accusing the LB of diving at his knee. The quarterback also said the play "frustrated" him but made it clear he was not injured by it.

While Williams may be upset, this is also a valuable learning experience for the rookie.

He has a clear tendency that teams are starting to already pick up on, and the Lions just happened to be the team that exploited it. Now every other squad would be foolish not to target Williams on these types of plays in a similar fashion, so this is a clear sign the young QB should make a change before something catastrophic happens.