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Bear Digest

Lack of Respect for Bears Receivers Means It's All on Caleb Williams

One analysis and ranking says the Bears QB is throwing to a lower class of targets, but if this is the case it hasn't bothered the "Iceman" in the past.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams confers with wide receiver Rome Odunze last season. Williams' receiver corps is being undersold by the analytics experts.
Caleb Williams confers with wide receiver Rome Odunze last season. Williams' receiver corps is being undersold by the analytics experts. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Caleb Williams apparently is a greater miracle worker than everyone thought.

The Bears QB will apparently be throwing to a group of lightly regarded wide receivers this season, or at least to pass catchers at a lower level than 33 others in the league.

The annual Pro Football Focus preseason look at the top 32 wide receivers for 2026 completely ignores all of Williams' targets. The Bears have no one in the top 32. or top 33 in this case. Authors Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman list Tyreek Hill as an honorable mention, or the next best, so there are 33. The question about all of this is not why the Bears have surrounded Williams with unworthy receiving talent, but whether it actually is a bad thing that PFF hasn't rated any Bears receivers.

Prior to the 2024 season, PFF ranked DJ Moore No. 12 and Keenan Allen No. 22. Williams not only was throwing to those two veteran top 32 receivers but they also put Rome Odunze in the top 32 as an untested rookie at No. 29 overall. What followed was definitely not impressive, as Williams struggled with consistency despite 20 touchdown passes and seven interceptions during a year when the Bears fired the coaching staff.

So Williams came back in 2025 and PFF still had Moore rated in the top 20 at No. 20 overall. At least Williams had one top 32 receiver working his way, and for the second straight year Moore underperformed. His 50 catches amounted to a career low, and his 682 yards were the fewest he's had since 2018. At least his yards per catch rose from his terribly disappointing career low of 9.9 in 2024 to 13.6 in 2025.

Has Williams been better with less?

Essentially, Williams did more with fewer top level receivers by PFF standards in 2025 than in 2024. Using this logic, he should really be able to take the Bears to new heights in 2026 because he has no top-32 receivers.

The logic here might be a bit faulty but what looks even more faulty is PFF's wide receiver rankings.

Chadwick and Wasserman decided to play the chalk. They're actually listing among their top 33 receivers those who are coming off season-ending injuries, like Malik Nabers, Calvin Ridley and Hill, or old-timers like Davante Adams and Stefon Diggs. This hardly shows any insight they should be able to offer into who is going to slide up and down in those rankings. Simply, they've just shown they can read off of a list of stats.

The ascension of Luther Burden III is being predicted by almost every analyst and PFF can't even do this. When Odunze was healthy, he was playing at a level that would have brought him 75 catches and over 1,100 yards with 12 touchdowns last year. He'd no doubt be in this list with those numbers.

The Bear's passing attack will go through tight end Colston Loveland again but the top two wide receivers look to put up big numbers once more with the targets Moore had now coming their way. At that point, perhaps they will wind up with a high ranking in the future.

Until then, Williams is throwing only to lower-level targets and the Bears will simply have to surprise everyone again with their ability to move the ball.

Williams and the attack definitely proved they could do this last year while being constantly underrated. Apparently, not much has really changed for them with Moore gone.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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