Bear Digest

Caleb Williams an Outrageous Snub From ESPN's Top 100 List

The quarterback decisions made for this list are indefensible without Caleb Williams.
Pete Martuneac|
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The NFL announced the MVP finalists on Thursday, and, not surprisingly, no one from the Chicago Bears made the final five. They had a good run and appear primed for an even better season in 2026, but the fact is that no one, not even Caleb Williams, played at a level deserving of the MVP award. At the same time, Seth Walder, an NFL analyst for ESPN, released his annual list of the Top 100 real NFL MVP candidates, an exercise that he says is done to offer praise to some very deserving players.

Most of Walder's list makes sense. Quarterbacks Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford are near the top, and Puka Nacua and Myles Garrett round out the Top 10. These players all had fantastic seasons and deserve their ranking. There is, however, one bizarre omission from Walder's Top 100 list, and that is Caleb Williams.

Caleb William
Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Despite his flaws, Caleb Williams is already a top quarterback

I'm not here to tell you that Williams deserved to win the actual MVP award, or that he should have been near the top of Walder's list. But leaving him off the Top 100 entirely is indefensible after the kind of season Williams had. He set an NFL record for fewest interceptions thrown through a player's first 1,000 pass attempts. The 2025 Bears were known as the Cardiac Bears thanks in large part to Williams' unbelievable fourth-quarter heroics. His touchdown to Cole Kmet in the Divisional round to force overtime was not only the wildest throw of the year, but it's being talked about as one of the greatest postseason passes of all time.

The snub gets even more outrageous when you look at the quarterbacks who made the cut ahead of Williams. I'm supposed to believe that Brock Purdy and C.J. Stroud, whose teams went 5-3 and 3-1, respectively, during their long injury absences, were more valuable than Williams? How many games would the Bears have won had an injury sidelined Williams for four or more weeks? Sam Darnold made the list, despite finishing with a lower QBR than Williams. Where's the reasoning for that?

What about Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield, who could not lead their teams to the playoffs despite playing in weak divisions? Is Williams less valuable than Daniel Jones, who started to unravel halfway through the year and just before a season-ending injury?

It seems that, despite winning the NFC North and pulling off an unbelievable comeback victory over the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round, the Bears tax is alive and well at ESPN. Hopefully, that heartbreaking end to the season pushes Williams to be even greater in 2026, and that this is the last time he's not a consensus pick as one of the NFL's top quarterbacks.

Caleb William
Matt Marton-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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