Bear Digest

Caleb Williams Lands Controversial Ranking Ahead of 2026 NFL Season

Bears fans will be happy to see where Caleb Williams is ranked, but not when they see who's ahead of him.
Pete Martuneac|
Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Caleb Williams' breakout season in 2025 went just about as well as Chicago Bears fans could have hoped. Despite falling agonizingly short of Bears history, he rewrote several franchise records and set an NFL record for most fourth-quarter comebacks in a season (seven) before turning 25-years-old. The fact that he set this incredible record in the Bears' Wild Card thriller over the Green Bay Packers makes it just that much better.

Suffice it to say that, in one year, Williams has radically changed the narrative that enveloped him after a chaotic rookie season. Many people believed that the Bears had, once again, drafted a bust of a quarterback. But Williams is turning the doubters into believes, including former Super Bowl champion and current ESPN analyst Chris Canty.

Canty, who once referred to Williams as the Sam Bowie of the 2024 NFL draft class, went on ESPN's "First Take" show on Wednesday to list his top five quarterbacks in the NFC, and Caleb Williams made the list at No. 5.

"That is a bad man," Canty said about Williams. "This dude is like that... he has a handful of throws every single game that no other quarterback in the NFL can make." He's not wrong. The throws that Canty mentioned — the fourth-and-eight throw to Odunze in the Wild Card round, the overtime game-winner to DJ Moore in Week 16, forcing overtime with the wildest throw of the year in the Divisional round — are the kind of highlights that you only see from the truly elite quarterbacks. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes could probably have made one or two of those throws, but not all three.

An improvement that won't make anyone happy

What makes this ranking controversial isn't Williams' inclusion in the Top 5. He absolutely deserves his spot. However, fans from the rest of the NFC North will be outraged that Williams is ranked above Jared Goff and Jordan Love; some already are.

Even some Bears fans will find fault in this Top 5 list because it lists Jayden Daniels three spots ahead of Williams at No. 2. It's certainly a curious choice, to say the least. There's no denying that Daniels authored an electric rookie season in 2024, but that's far in the past. In 2025, Daniels took several steps back in his development, even before injuries derailed his season. I would even go so far as to say that one of Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, or Jordan Love deserves that spot more than Daniels.

The Bottom Line

Williams still has a long way to go in his development. He's got to hit some more layups, and his accuracy and footwork must both improve if he's ever to be a consistently elite quarterback. But those are all things that he can learn with enough time on task. What can't be taught is what Williams does well. The 'wow' throws, the clutch gene, and the calm belief in himself that earned him the nickname Iceman. That's what makes him a Top 5 quarterback in the NFC, and it won't be long before he's considered Top 5 in the entire league.

Caleb William
David Banks-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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