Critics have enjoyed taking every opportunity to snipe Caleb Williams this season. He’s not a winner. His body language is terrible. Where’s the leadership? He takes way too many sacks. From the way people talk, you’d think the Chicago Bears quarterback had an all-time terrible season. You wouldn’t think he has more passing yards than Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts, more TD passes than Kyler Murray and Geno Smith, and fewer interceptions than Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Burrow.
No, he hasn’t been stellar this season. There have been mistakes. He still misses too many easy throws and tends to hold the ball at times, leading to unnecessary sacks. Yet people aren’t grasping how well he’s played despite horrendous circumstances. He has arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL and lost both his offensive coordinator and head coach in the middle of the season. Despite all of that, he became the only rookie quarterback in NFL history to post at least 3300 passing yards, 18 TDs, 6 or fewer INTs, and 450 rushing yards in his first 16 starts.
The Bears have flaws across the organization’s spectrum. It starts with a coaching staff that has routinely looked overmatched whenever forced into difficult decision-making circumstances. Eberflus couldn’t handle it, and it appears interim Thomas Brown isn’t much better. Chicago needs a serious reboot of the entire staff, hopefully bringing in somebody who knows how to elevate the quarterback position. Once that is done, GM Ryan Poles or whoever replaces him must make the offensive line their top priority. It wouldn’t be shocking to see three new starters up front by next summer.
Chicago lucked into Caleb Williams last year, thanks to that Carolina trade. However, that is only half the battle. It now falls on them to take advantage of their good fortune. They’ve assembled a solid cast of weapons, but all of it needs the scheme and control of the line of scrimmage to work properly. If Williams has been this good in such bad circumstances, imagine what might happen if the Bears get the problems fixed.
