It’s admirable and prudent of the Bears’ Caleb Williams not to concern himself with other rookies’ progress, and he’s not consumed by the weekly quarterback showdowns. He has more than enough to occupy himself with his own development.
Drama is high when No. 1 pick Williams takes on a star, such as the Texans’ C.J. Stroud, or a veteran he has emulated, such as the Rams’ Matt Stafford, but they’re never on the field at the same time.
There is an indirect one-on-one, however, because Williams must keep up with whoever is on the other side, and whichever quarterback plays better typically wins.
When the Bears come back from the bye week, Williams will tangle with No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels of the Commanders on Oct. 27, then will face 2019 No. 1 pick Kyler Murray of the Cardinals and No. 3 pick Drake Maye of the Patriots.
A Bears-Commanders matchup is usually a snoozer, but it’s huge this time. They’re both 4-2, Daniels has been out in front of Williams and Williams, who is from Washington, is going back home for a game for the first time since he starred at Gonzaga College High.
The Bears, however, don’t seem worried about him getting caught up in any of that. General manager Ryan Poles credited Williams last week for choosing to ‘‘run his own race’’ rather than keep an eye on Daniels, and coach Matt Eberflus said Monday he has seen an all-business approach from Williams since he met him in February.
‘‘I don’t know if there will be a lot of outside noise going home . . . but we’re playing the Washington Commanders, and that’s what it’s going to be all about,’’ Eberflus said.
‘‘The way he’s prepared going into it, from Week 1 all the way to Week 6, he’s proven that he’s gotten better every single week. We’re trying to keep doing that.’’
Williams is fresh off shredding the Jaguars in a 35-16 victory Sunday in London in which he completed 79.3% of his passes, threw for 226 yards with four touchdowns and one interception and ran four times for 56 yards. His 124.4 passer rating gave him three consecutive games higher than 100, a first in franchise history for a rookie.
His hot streak has enabled him to gain ground on Daniels, too.
Daniels is fourth in the NFL and first among rookies with a 107.1 passer rating, well ahead of Williams’ 88.7, but Williams has narrowed the gap in passing yards per game (Daniels is up 234 to 219.5) and overtaken him in touchdown passes with nine to Daniels’ six.
‘‘The human side of it is, you want your guy to just take off and roll, but everyone’s journey is going to be different,’’ Poles said. ‘‘[Williams] has done well just focusing on, ‘How can I get better and how can I put our team in a position to win games?’ ’’
Williams’ upcoming stretch against Daniels, Murray and Maye leads up to a significant shift in difficulty in the Bears’ schedule. Their final eight weeks will feature all six of their NFC North games, a visit to the reigning NFC champion 49ers and a game on short rest against the Seahawks.
Every team Williams will see from Week 11 through the end of the season is .500 or better right now, and all but one has a pass defense that ranks among the top half of the NFL in opponent passer rating and a starting quarterback who is in the top half in passer rating.
It’ll be tougher for the Bears’ defense to give Williams the same margin he has enjoyed so far, given that no opponent has scored more than 21 points to date. It’ll be tough to avoid and compensate for mistakes against better defenses and sharper coaches.
Williams has made a nice jump in the last three weeks, but he will face a leap in competition after the break.
