The hype surrounding Caleb Williams when he first came to the NFL was second to none. A Heisman Trophy winner, he had electric seasons with both Oklahoma and USC, as he became a unanimous selection with the first overall pick. However, his first year, while solid, paled in comparison to arguably the most outstanding rookie season of a quarterback in NFL history, which the player drafted after him, Jayden Daniels, had.
Some of the faults were attributed to the disastrous coaching staff of the Chicago Bears, prompting a change with the hiring of offensive genius Ben Johnson as the new head coach. Through seven games this year, though, the script had been mainly the same, as he remained solid but nowhere near the superstar talent many pegged him to be. Even after arguably his best game of the season, some analysts remain unconvinced.
Caleb Williams Gets Better or More of the Same?
The numbers for Williams from his rookie season to his sophomore year have been nearly identical, with minor increments across the board. While he’s on pace for more passing yards and touchdowns, his completion percentage is one point worse (61.5 vs 62.5).
But his overall play has been better, as evidenced by a passer rating of 93.5 versus 87.8 in his first year. The critique, though, is the competition around him, where players like Drake Maye and Bo Nix seem to have taken bigger leaps than him.
However, the game against the Cincinnati Bengals could have been a turning point for the youngster. After getting humiliated by the Baltimore Ravens without Lamar Jackson in the lineup, the Bears needed their get back.
But a muffed onside kick paved the way for the Bengals to take a 42-41 lead with 50 seconds on the clock. For a Chicago franchise that has had a history of doing so, this seemed like another game, and by extension, another season, that would go down the same way.
However, a spectacular game-winning drive, capped off by a 58-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Colston Loveland, paved the way for a miraculous Bears victory, as the overall game did some heavy lifting in improving Williams’ stock.
Ranked 17th on PFSN’s QB Impact, it was his best game since a 31-14 demolition of the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3. However, even with the histrionic, legendary sports analyst Chris Broussard of First Things First, he remained unimpressed with the sophomore.
“It changes nothing for me,” Broussard began, before he acquiesced. “Caleb is on the right track. I don’t know where that track will end, but I think he’s certainly on the track to being a good, solid quarterback.”
However, as far as the superstar expectations were concerned, his stance remained unchanged. “I saw nothing yesterday to move me in terms of ‘he’s going to be a superstar.’ He was great, but it was against the Bengals!”
Pointing to the game against the Cowboys, he believed one good game wasn’t going to move him, particularly after Williams followed up that encounter with four “bad games,” as he called them.
In the game against the Bengals, he ended up with a frankly bonkers stat line, completing 20 of 34 passing attempts for 280 yards and three touchdowns, while taking off five times on the ground for 53 rushing yards.
Additionally, some creative playcalling from Johnson saw Williams take on the receiver’s role on two separate occasions, adding 22 receiving yards and a touchdown to his efforts. All in all, the game was worthy of actual superstar status.
However, as Broussard explained, such performances needed to become consistently the norm before he could be elevated to those standards.