Bear Digest

Another Caleb Williams dud should be deeply troubling for Bears fans

It's far too soon to close the book on Caleb Williams, but the ending is shaping up to be a bad one.
Pete Martuneac|
Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

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The Chicago Bears had built up quite a bit of goodwill among the fanbase as they rode a four-game win streak into Week 8, but that has suddenly all evaporated in the wake of an atrocious 16-30 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. And no, it wasn't the two-time MVP who led this beatdown, as Lamar Jackson was revealed to be out for the Bears game. Tyler Huntley, elevated from Baltimore's practice squad on Friday, quarterbacked his team to victory and thoroughly outdueled Caleb Williams.

I'm sorry, Bears fans, but it must be said. Your former first-overall pick of a quarterback was outdueled by a practice squad replacement, and that's inexcusable. Caleb Williams was the reason behind the Bears' struggling offense against the Ravens and must shoulder the blame.

His stats won't show it, as Williams finished with 285 passing yards on 25-of-38 passing, but the Ravens defense had him visibly flummoxed all afternoon. As bad as he was, Chicago still had a chance to take a late lead, but Williams was late on a pass over the middle and threw an interception in the shadow of his own goalposts. That was the final nail in the coffin.

It's not time to panic, but time is running out for Caleb Williams

While Williams has shown marked improvement from his rookie year, it's not nearly good enough. He was drafted first-overall to be a franchise-changing quarterback and incremental improvements towards simply being an average starting quarterback is not going to cut it. His struggles are magnified further as he is once again being outshined by another quarterback from his draft class: New England's Drake Maye, who could genuinely end the season as MVP.

I'll throw Bears fans a bone here and note that this was only Williams' 24th start. He's still young and (hopefully) has a long career ahead of him. It should also be noted that from Week 2 through Week 6, Williams played well. But these last two games have been unmitigated disasters, and unlike established franchise quarterbacks, Williams doesn't have the kind of history of success that allows us to wave this ugly stretch away as just a slump.

Last week, I set the Caleb Williams panic-meter at a low 3/10, but now I have to ratchet it up. This makes two terrible games against bad defenses, two games without a passing touchdown and an interception. As aforementioned, I wouldn't panic yet but I'm much closer than I thought I'd be at this point in the season.

Caleb William
Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

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Pete Martuneac
PETE MARTUNEAC

A former Marine and Purdue Boilermaker, Pete has been covering the Chicago Bears since 2022 as a senior contributor on BearsTalk. He lives with his wife, two kids and loyal dog.

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