Bears News: Caleb Williams’ sophomore season shows growth — and growing pains |
Anthony Pasquale
· · 2 hours ago
As week ten approaches in Caleb Williams’ sophomore season, the critics have been rampant about the 23-year-old’s play. Through eight games in 2025, the Bears are 5-3. Williams has 1,916 yards and 12 TDs thus far, to go along with four interceptions.
In terms of yards-per-game — a statistic getting extra scrutiny due to the Bears never having a 4,000 yard passer in their long history — Williams is outpacing Jared Goff, Bo Nix, Josh Allen, CJ Stroud, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, Jayden Daniels, Bryce Young and others. For the 2024 No. 1 overall pick, the scouting report has been simple. For positives, he has a big arm and has the talent to make any throw. He is good off-platform and when on the run. The negatives have been accuracy, specifically on deep throws. Plus, he has a tendency to hold on to the ball too long and try to make the hero play, instead of taking an easy check down or throwing the ball away. In year two, the highs are certainly on display…as are the lows. In 2024, Williams was sacked 68 times, a Bears record and rookie QB record as well. Thus far in 2025, Williams has been sacked just 12 times. The result is two-fold: the Bears' investment in their offensive line is paying off, and Williams is getting the ball out quicker on average. Under new head coach Ben Johnson, the Bears' offense has certainly improved. They’ve been much better early in games, already scoring more points in the first quarter than the 2024 team did in its entire season. It is without doubt that Williams has improved exponentially in his 24 career games; however, it is impossible not to expect more out of a number one overall pick in year two. After all, he was acclaimed to be a “generational talent.” It’s reasonable to give Williams the benefit of the doubt; he is on system three in the NFL in just 24 games — not to mention his offense has been the most penalized unit in football, consistently putting the young QB behind the chains, which sets off a domino effect in terms of pressure faced and the hero ball element Williams is prone to. However, it’s also hard to ignore the other quarterbacks drafted in the 2024 class. Jayden Daniels had a historic rookie season, reaching the NFC Championship game. Meanwhile, here in 2025, Drake Maye and Bo Nix are enjoying breakout campaigns — accounting for 35 touchdowns and 12 wins combined this year. They say comparison is the thief of joy, but it’s understandable that Bears fans are keeping tabs on the other QBs in Williams’ class after watching their franchise trade up in the draft to select Mitchell Trubisky in 2017, passing on now three-time Super Bowl Champion and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes. Which, of course, brings up an additional element to this discourse — the Bears' organization has historically been awful at quarterback development. Would Mahomes, Maye, or Nix be stars in Chicago? Is the organization too dysfunctional for any quarterback to counteract as it is? While many acknowledge that Ben Johnson was the “correct” hire for the Bears, his no-nonsense style of coaching has the Bears 2nd in the entire NFL in accepted penalties this season. Sure, the “Good, Better, Best” victory speeches are fun, but at some point, the discipline on the field has to match the attitude of the coach — otherwise it becomes a gimmick.
