Caleb Williams became the first Chicago Bears quarterback to beat the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in just under a decade. Not since Jay Cutler pulled it off on Thanksgiving in 2015. The fact he did it as a rookie with the league’s worst offensive line blocking for him makes it all the more impressive. It wasn’t a pretty performance, but Williams delivered when the team needed a drive. The best part is the story behind the most crucial pass of the game. It came on 3rd and 11 from the Bears’ 49-yard line with 15 seconds left.
Williams fired a pass to D.J. Moore on an in-breaking route for 18 yards, leading a spike with two seconds left. This enabled Cairo Santos to kick the game-winning 51-yard field goal. The crazy part came after the game. Williams admitted to the media that it wasn’t the original play call. He was supposed to throw close to the sideline so the Bears could stop the clock. However, he saw something in Green Bay’s coverage and signaled to D.J. Moore to adjust his route inside.
To have the guts to make that call on the road with the game on the line as a rookie is wild.
This was the fourth time since the bye week that the rookie drove his team into position to tie or win the game late in the 4th quarter. The first was Washington, where the go-ahead TD was squandered by the Hail Mary. Next was the blocked field goal in the first Green Bay matchup. Then, there was the infamous timeout disaster in Detroit. Last but not least was this final drive at Lambeau. Had the Bears executed properly and won those games, the narrative around Caleb Williams would be so different now. The truth is the rookie has been far better than anybody has a right to believe.
Despite losing a chunk of his coaching staff and not getting any blocking, he still finished with over 3,500 yards, 20 touchdowns, and only six interceptions. If he can do all of this is worst-case scenario conditions, imagine what he might accomplish with actual competency around him.
