Bear Digest

Caleb Williams had a bad game. Here's why that's great news for Bears fans.

Erratic accuracy from their quarterback held the Chicago Bears back on Sunday but Bears fans shouldn't worry.
Pete Martuneac|
Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

For the second time this year, the Chicago Bears have strung together four consecutive wins, and this time they did not need a furious game-winning drive in the game's closing moments. Chicago started slow and was at one point staring down the barrel of a 14-7 deficit. But Caleb Williams and the Bears shrugged off this shaky first half. In the third quarter, they took a 24-21 lead and did not surrender it in an epic 31-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Despite this being one of their highest-scoring games of the season, however, Chicago's offense looked disjointed for much of the afternoon. D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai averaged a meager 3 yards per carry on the ground between them, and Caleb Williams struggled mightily with ball placement. In fact, it could be argued that this was Williams' worst outing of the season.

Caleb William
Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Caleb Williams' stats don't tell the full story

You wouldn't know it by looking at some of his stats. Williams finished Sunday with 239 passing yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, good for a 104.3 passer rating. The evidence of his struggles lies in his completion percentage, a miserable 54%. Bear in mind, Pittsburgh entered Week 12 with one of the NFL's worst passing defenses.

Williams was way off on far too many of his throws, even ones that were completed. He wasn't putting the right touch on deep balls and was throwing behind receivers in the intermediate range. The inaccuracy was a big reason why his Week 12 PFF grade was near the bottom for the Bears' offense.

It was a rough day at the office for the former No. 1 overall pick, and that's not even mentioning the horrendous sack-fumble in his own endzone. Had the Bears lost on Sunday, that clip would have been all over sports media for the rest of the week as proof that the Bears drafted another bust (an absurd statement, but you know it would have happened).

Despite the poor showing from Williams, Bears fans should be excited about his future. After all, if a bad game from their quarterback ends with 239 passing yards, a trio of touchdowns, and a win, then the Bears really do have a franchise quarterback and, dare I say, a budding superstar.

Remember, this is Year 1 in a new offense that is considered one of the most complex in the league. Williams, who just turned 24 a week ago, is unlearning the horrendous coaching of the previous regime while installing a new offense engineered by a mad football scientist. This is the worst he'll ever be as an NFL quarterback, and he's on pace for 3,969 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Caleb William
David Banks-Imagn Images

And it's not just the stats that should have Bears fans pumped up. Williams also has the intangibles of a franchise quarterback. His coolness when the chips are down has his teammates calling him the Iceman (I wonder if George Gervin approves of the nickname), and he never lingers on the last play. That sack-fumble, for instance, would have been the end of many previous Bears quarterbacks. They would have piled mistake after mistake trying to shake that one off.

But Williams? He never lost his cool for a moment. Instead, he bounced right back and responded with three more touchdown drives, delivering a fourth consecutive win for the Bears. There will likely be many more ups and downs for Williams this year, but it doesn't look like Bears fans will have to worry about drafting another quarterback for a long time.

Caleb William
Mike Dinovo-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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