Caleb Williams was viewed as the consensus best player in the 2024 NFL Draft and an obvious choice for the Chicago Bears with the first overall picks. Months later, doubts are already being raised about whether or not Williams can become a franchise quarterback.
Chicago opted to make minor changes on the coaching side before the 2024 NFL season. Matt Eberflus was retained as the Bears head coach and he hired former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to serve as the team’s play-caller. The hiring generated some criticism, but many believed the Bears defense and receiver corps made this one of the best possible situations for a rookie quarterback.
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- Caleb Williams stats (ESPN): 81.0 QB rating, 1,785 passing yards, 60.5% completion rate, 6.1 yards per attempt, 9-5 TD-INT, 38 sacks taken, 236 rush yards, 5.9 yards per carry
Willams got off to a rocky start, completing just 59.32 percent of hs passes with a 2-24 TD-INT line and a 65.3 QB rating in his first four games. The Bears’ quarterback also averaged just 210 passing yards per game, while taking 4.3 sacks per contest and averaging just 5.34 yards per attempt.
However, Chicago saw a much better version of Williams over the next four weeks. He completed 69.9 percent of his passes with a 9-3 TD-INT line, recording a 106.4 QB rating with a 7.89 ypa average and he averaged 262.5 passing yards per game. While it came against a soft portion of the Bears schedule – Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars – it was seen as a major step forward.
The results since the bye week have been disastrous. Williams hasn’t scored a touchdown in his last three games, all while completing just 50.5 percent of his attempts with a 64.7 QB rating. He’s also averaged just 4.9 yards per attempt and 156 passing yards per game over that span.
While Chicago is hopeful that firing Waldron on Tuesday will lead to change, Williams’ first nine games have evidently raised doubts for some about whether he can ever become a franchise-caliber quarterback.
What’s wrong with Caleb Williams?
Following a brutal three-game stretch from Williams, worsening his NFL stats relative to fellow rookie quarterbacks, Jeff Howe of The Athletic is now raising doubts regarding if Chicago even has a franchise quarterback to build around.
Howe wrote this week about how Williams’ struggles have “raised concerns over (his) long-term viability as a franchise quarterback.” The Athletic’s senior NFL reporter also spoke to league executives, who highlighted that Williams’ issues in college are even more prevalent now and there haven’t been signs of improvement.
“He is doing the same things he did in college in terms of holding the ball and being inconsistent with his reads. He could get away with running around, throwing the ball up for grabs, throwing across his body, and he had some success doing that. You don’t get away with that at the NFL level too often. I’m a little surprised they haven’t been able to clean some of this up.”
Anonymous NFL executive on Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams (via Jeff Howe of The Athletic)
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However, Howe and the NFL executives also highlighted bigger issues with the current Bears team. It starts up front with an offensive line that ranks 23rd in Pro Football Focus‘ Pass Blocking Efficiency. Chicago has also allowed the 11th-most pressures (99) and the second-most sacks (38) in the NFL.
While pressures allowed and sacks taken also fall on Williams’ shoulders and his long-standing tendency to hold onto the football too long, an even bigger issue is the Bears’ coaching staff. To combat bad offensive lines, teams will often use more passes behind the line of scrimmage or short to get the football out quickly.
During Waldron’s tenure as play-caller, Williams ranked 18th of 25 quarterbacks in percentage of throws behind the line of scrimmage (18 percent) and he’s 16th in throws 0-9 yards past the line of scrimmage (42.2 percent).
So, while Williams deserves a fair share of the blame for what’s happening, at the heart of the issue with the Bears offense are the play-calling and the offensive line. Only making things worse, a Bears receiving corps that looked loaded entering the season has fallen well short of expectations.
