LONDON — Even at this early stage for rookie Caleb Williams, who played merely his sixth NFL game Sunday, he’s delivering the best quarterback play the Bears have gotten in years.
Williams’ game traveled brilliantly across the pond and he continued his rise as the Bears rocked the Jaguars 35-16 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for their third win in a row — their longest streak since 2020.
The catalyst was actually his one glaring error, when he missed a chance to hit DJ Moore for a deep touchdown and instead threw an interception. As Moore raced wide open, Williams underthrew him, and as he walked to the sideline, he ripped into himself.
“Definitely had a few words for myself after that,” he said. “Got the mindset back on track and was ready to go from there.
“I was a bit pissed off at myself because that's a pass that you don't miss... Resetting myself was important, but still had that in the back of my mind: Can't have that happen again, and let's go out here and go score.”
From there, he torched the Jaguars by completing 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns, looking every bit like a proficient, proper quarterback.
He bought time in the pocket.
He scrambled when necessary.
He completed gritty third-down passes in tight coverage.
The Bears have been waiting a long time for somebody who can do all that consistently, and Williams looks increasingly like that somebody.
For all the false hope Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky generated at times, the outlook at quarterback has never been as optimistic as it is now, and the Bears flew home night at 4-2 and headed into a bye week — by far the high point to date of the Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus era.
“For the first six games, we’re in a good spot,” Eberflus said.
With a 124.4 passer rating Sunday, Williams became the only rookie in Bears history to string together three consecutive games at 100 or higher. He also was their first rookie to throw four touchdown passes in 25 years and completed a career-high 79.3% of his passes — quite a leap from going 14 for 29 in his debut a little over a month ago.
Even when he threw the interception, the Bears’ blueprint ultimately worked.
On a savvy play design by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, called at the perfect time, the Bears sent in two extra offensive linemen to show run on a third-and-one in the second quarter, then Williams dropped back and had Moore open deep.
His throw, late, short and with too much loft, hung long enough for Jaguars safety Andre Cisco to cut across for what Williams tabbed an “easy interception” at the 7-yard line.
But the Bears didn’t plan on Williams being perfect. They designed a well-built roster around him to facilitate his acclimation to the NFL, and the defense forced a three-and-out and a punt to negate the mistake.
“We understand that might happen on occasion,” Eberflus said. “Our defense responded. I always talk to the guys about responding; complementary football is helping the other person out.”
The better Williams gets, the less dependent he’ll be on that help.
It’s worth noting that his surge of a 74.1 completion percentage, 687 yards and seven touchdown passes with one interception for a 122.8 passer rating over the last three games came against three of the NFL’s worst defenses. It’s also worth noting that hammering inferior teams has never been a given for the Bears or their quarterbacks.
It doesn’t guarantee anything beyond this, and the degree of difficulty increases moderately in two weeks against the Commanders and substantially with a gauntlet of fearsome opponents in the second half of the season, but by beating up on bad teams, the Bears showed that they aren’t one anymore.
There are higher levels, of course, for them and Williams, and they’ll have to prove they can hold their own. It’ll be harder for Williams to make the same plays against scarier pass rushers and tighter secondaries. He won’t have the same margin from his defense when the Bears face more potent offenses.
The Bears believe what they’ve seen lately is progress irrespective of opponent. Williams seems increasingly perceptive, decisive and comfortable.
“He's taken steps every game,” said tight end Cole Kmet, who has endured plenty of quarterback letdowns as a Bears player and fan. “He's just super dynamic. He's a pass-first guy, but he has that ability to run as well.”
On that subject, Williams scrambled four times, each as a last resort, for 56 yards. He’s not reliant on it, but he can do it when needed. He got a first down on all four runs. His 23-yard dash to get them to midfield and 19-yard run that he nearly scored on late in the second quarter were instrumental in setting up his touchdown pass to Kmet just before halftime for a 14-3 lead.
The Bears pushed ahead 35-10 early in the fourth quarter, and backup quarterbacks finished for both teams.
Williams couldn’t stop smiling, and in the fourth quarter he appeared to turn around on the bench and take in the moment as the Bears-heavy crowd roared like a jet engine.
In the locker room, he joked and laughed with longtime tight end Marcedes Lewis as they got dressed. It was a much different scene than early in the season, when he sat silently with a 1,000-yard stare and replayed everything he’d gotten wrong in losses to the Texans and Colts and reckoned with frustration.
It doesn’t feel like that anymore. It’s clicking, and the unknown of what he’ll do next isn’t terrifying. It’s exciting.
