Bears QB Caleb Williams can keep putting up big games if he consistently masters nuances
The Bears have been here before with young quarterbacks. In fact, they’ve been here before with this young quarterback.
While Caleb Williams’ excellent performance in the Bears’ 31-14 victory Sunday against the Cowboys was encouraging, his next step is to play like that consistently and replicate the finer points of the position against better defenses than that one.
The Cowboys’ defense clearly is one of the worst in the NFL and has allowed 30.7 points a game. For a snapshot of how bad it is, Giants quarterback Russell Wilson lit up the Cowboys for a monster game in Week 2, then sputtered to 160 yards, two interceptions and a 43.7 passer rating Sunday against the Chiefs.
Williams had supposed breakout games as a rookie last season, only to fall flat later. He had a three-game stretch against the Rams, Colts and Jaguars in which he put up a 122.8 passer rating, then posted an 87.3 rating the rest of the season.
Before Williams, hope surged when Mitch Trubisky had a six-touchdown game in 2018 and when Justin Fields threw four touchdown passes in back-to-back games in 2023. Those stories ended disappointingly for the Bears.
Any quarterback can put up a big game occasionally. The great ones do it consistently.
Williams completed 19 of 28 passes for 298 yards (the fifth-highest total of his career and his most yards per pass at 10.6), four touchdowns (his best) and a 142.6 passer rating (his best). But the statistics themselves won’t inherently translate going forward, especially against stronger defenses.
The subtleties might, however. Some nuances of Williams’ performance must continue when the Bears visit the Raiders on Sunday. The Raiders, by the way, rank 22nd in the league in points allowed (24.7 per game), 23rd in opponent passer rating (100.7) and 25th in opponent completion percentage (68.1).
If Williams keeps doing the little things right, as he did against the Cowboys, numbers will follow.
When Bears head coach Ben Johnson fawned over Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott last week, specifically about his ability to use his eyes to confuse the defense rather than telegraphing his passes by locking in on a receiver too early, it sure sounded as though he was sending Williams a message.
‘‘I don’t use the media a whole lot to talk indirectly to the players; I talk to Caleb directly,’’ Johnson said Monday before acknowledging, ‘‘It is something that we’ve talked about.’’
He might have done it unintentionally, then, but the point stands. Prescott doesn’t give away his intentions before letting the ball fly, and that’s one difference between a 32-year-old franchise quarterback and a 23-year-old trying to become one.
Williams did it well a few times Sunday, including when he scrambled to the right on the touchdown pass to DJ Moore on fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line in the third quarter. He looked to D’Andre Swift in the right corner, baiting three defenders into taking a step toward Swift, then threw across his body to Moore alone in the back of the end zone.
It worked even better on a 41-yard dump-off to Swift in the second quarter. As Swift released from his block to the left, Williams was scanning the right side of the field, then turned left and threw to Swift. When Swift caught the ball outside the numbers, the entire Cowboys defense was in the middle or on the right side of the field.
Even if Swift hadn’t broken any tackles, it would have been at least an 11-yard gain solely off the play design and savvy execution by Williams.
Plays such as those are where Williams can grow from talented to proficient. Every quarterback who gets drafted is gifted. The ones who flourish are able to out-think the competition and process everything more quickly and accurately.
That’s true of Williams’ mechanics, too. While he has what Johnson calls a ‘‘beautiful’’ throwing motion and an uncanny ability to make difficult passes, a quarterback with loose fundamentals simply isn’t viable in the NFL. Williams was good enough to get away with that at USC, but not here.
That’s why Johnson has been all over Williams’ footwork from the beginning and continues to point to it as the key to throwing accuracy. It’s no coincidence Williams’ highest completion percentage of the season (67.9%) came in a game when his footwork routinely was correct.
It was most evident on back-to-back passes in the first quarter. Williams first connected with tight end Colston Loveland up the right side for 31 yards, then found Rome Odunze up the left side for a 35-yard touchdown pass. On both throws, he had both feet pointed squarely at the receiver and led him downfield for an in-stride catch.
‘‘In terms of the execution, he’s getting a lot better, a lot more comfortable with his footwork,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘He’s got a good system in place right now that he’s adhering to, and it’s showing up on game day where we’re starting to reap some of the rewards from that.’’
Add in that the Bears committed no pre-snap penalties, that Johnson saw a more confident control of the huddle and that Williams didn’t take any sacks by holding the ball for too long, and you have his new weekly checklist.
If Williams can do those things regularly, there’s little doubt he’ll have more big games ahead.