Caleb Williams vaults into top-10 of latest QB ranking

Hopefully, Williams’ newfound status among pundits translates to the field during the playoffs.

Dec 7, 2025; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) during the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Chicago Bears drafted Caleb Williams with the hope that he’d eventually become a perennial top-10 quarterback in the NFL—at the worst. (With his skills and talent, his ceiling is undoubtedly MVP-level if he ever reaches it.)

At least one writer thinks Williams is already knocking on that door.

NFL Media’s Nick Shook, who writes up weekly lists of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, put the second-year Bears gunslinger at No. 8 on the list heading into Week 18, moving him up all the way up from No. 14 the previous week.

“Caleb Williams continues to dazzle, even in defeat, showing off the rare arm strength and improvisational skills that have helped him make great strides in his second season. He kept pace with a white-hot Brock Purdy-led 49ers offense in one of the season's most entertaining games,” Shook wrote.

It’s been a long steady climb up the charts for Williams, who started out the years in the 20s in most rankings.

Now, he headlines the “Tier 2” quarterbacks in Shook’s rankings, topping that section just in front of Seattle’s Sam Darnold and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, who is a top-five QB by most narrative lists but has had a down 2025-26 season largely because of injury.

Williams slots in just below Shook’s deserving No. 7 Trevor Lawrence, who has had a resurgent year under first-year coach Liam Coen for the Jaguars—just as Williams has done with Ben Johnson. For those wondering: fellow 2024 top-three draft pick Drake Maye of the New England Patriots tops the list over the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, which could be a harbinger of people’s MVP votes.

While the Williams vs. Maye comparisons have gotten a lot of attention due to Maye’s meteoric rise to the top of the league this year, Williams’ dogged, insistent progression deserves plenty of praise in its own right. The Bears’ passer, while struggling at times, has persevered to play his best ball when it matters most—both at the end of games and the clutch parts of this season.

On top of that, his 3,730 passing yards have him within striking distance of the Bears’ single-season yardage record and the 4,000-yard mark.

We always knew Williams had the potential to be a top-10 quarterback. Now, he’s starting to look like one at just the right time.

More Chicago Bears News:

• The Eagles have just gifted the NFC’s No. 2 seed to the Bears

• Luther Burden III, Colston Loveland make ESPN’s All-Rookie Team

• Dan Orlovksy: Bears have a “championship-caliber offense”
  

• Caleb Williams just put up an MVP-level stat in loss