The Chicago Bears are preparing for their second preseason game of 2025, as they will host the Buffalo Bills in a nationally televised exhibition on Sunday night at Soldier Field. All eyes will be on embattled second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, who has faced stiff criticism and questions over the past few weeks for his erratic performance in training camp while trying to master Ben Johnson’s new offense. Although fans and analysts seem to be highly judgmental of Williams’ ability to process and execute a new offensive scheme, it appears that many have forgotten how much he overcame in 2024 to have an adequate rookie campaign.
Caleb Williams demonstrated an ability to rise against adversity during a hectic 2024 rookie campaign
When the Bears selected Caleb Williams first overall in the 2024 NFL Draft the expectations for the USC signal-caller were as high as possible, as he immediately drew comparisons to All-Pro and Super Bowl winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes. WIlliams was seen as a can’t miss prospect that would immediately be an elite-level talent at his position, a position that the Chicago franchise had historically struggled with. The Bears’ rookie quarterback was expected to break all of the team’s signal-caller rookie records in 2024 and lead the team to the playoffs for the first time in 2024.
Despite having offensive weapons at the pass-catching position on offense, which featured players like D’Andre Swift, DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Keenan Allen, and fellow rookie Rome Odunze, Williams didn’t have the eye-popping rookie campaign most anticipated. Caleb Williams would pass for 3541 yards along with 20 touchdowns, but was sacked a league-leading 68 times and throw six interceptions in a season where Chicago only won five games, which included a ten game losing-streak. It was these aspects paired with the success of fellow rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, that made fans and some analysts critical of the Bears’ passer and whether or not the team had made the right selection with the first overall pick.
The sacks and losing-streak seemed to highlight Williams’ weaknesses that were known during the pre-draft process, which included his inability to turn down the big play in favor for a safer throw and his issues of holding onto the ball too long. Unfortunately for Caleb Williams, he wasn’t in the best environment for a rookie quarterback that had the amount of expectations and pressure to perform that he did. Despite having the pass-catching weapons around him, Chicago’s rookie dealt with an unstable situation on the offensive line and with the offensive play-caller.
Leading up to the 2024 season, Bears’ general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus would hire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to lead the team’s offense and develop Williams at quarterback. Waldron failed significantly in the role of developing Caleb Williams and as a play-caller, as Chicago’s offense often lack simple and sound scheme designs, with the offense failing to have multiple scoring drives resulting in only scoring 20 points or more three times during his short tenure. The Bears’ front office would fire the offensive play-caller after a Week 10 loss to the Patriots where only three points could be mustered against a bad defense.
Although Williams and the offensive’s performance picked up after the team replaced Waldron with Thomas Brown, another change would take place three weeks later when Eberflus was fired the day after Thanksgiving. The head coach firing led to Brown promoted to interim head coach, which in turn meant Williams would be working with a third play-caller in less than one month’s time. To make matter worse, while Chicago’s offense had instability with their coaches, the offensive lined battled injuries and talent issues throughout the year.
Leading up to the season, Poles failed to significantly address the offensive line, as no prominent or established talent was added, especially at the interior of the line. Chicago would have multiple different starting line combinations throughout the season, whether due to injuries or inadequate play, as Caleb Williams was sacked six or more times in four different games. Additionally, there were too many instances where WIlliams had to break from the pocket early to avoid a sack, which hampered his ability to go through his progressions.
Despite the chaos and constant instability, Williams still managed to play somewhat well in his rookie season, as he never had a completely bad game. Chicago’s rookie never had a game where he looked completely overmatched by a defense as he was only intercepted twice from Week 5 on, while also never having a game where he was the sole reason for the offense’s struggles. Additionally, Caleb Williams recorded a 300-yard passing performance with each of the Bears’ three offensive coordinators in role during the 2024 campaign.
Caleb Williams unrealistic expectations are similar to what Jay Cutler experience during his time with Chicago
The unrealistic expectations paired with the micromanagement level of dissection of every throw, practice, and game Caleb Williams has is unstainable for the Bears fans and media. Far too often have many Chicago fans been too quick to write off or anoint a quarterback. Whether it is Rex Grossman, Jay Cutler, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Fields, and now Williams, it appears that there is no winning at the signal-caller position if you are starting for the Bears.
The hype, expectations, and judgement placed on Caleb Williams is strikingly similar to how Cutler was treated when he was acquired via trade by the franchise back in April of 2009. In what was arguably one of the biggest trades involving a Pro Bowl quarterback ever, Chicago fans immediately believed that the team had acquired a Hall of Fame talent that due to his talent alone would lead the franchise to multiple Super Bowl titles. Unfortunately for Cutler, despite breaking almost all of the Bears’ quarterback records, his eight years with the team were seen as a disappointment for the one playoff appearance, even though there were flaws with the offensive play-calling and inept talent at other positions.
Williams is the closest quarterback Chicago has had that can match the arm talent and throwing capabilities that Cutler had, but despite the potential capabilities fans seemed obsessed with having a perfect entity at the position. Caleb Williams’ ability to be an elite level signal-caller is being question based off of what is being seen in training camp and for not playing in the team’s first preseason game, despite the promise he showed in the face of adversity last year. Fans often forget that Cutler won the Bears a lot of games with last-minute drives to score either go-ahead field goals or touchdowns, as he had at least one game-winning or game-tying drive every season with the team.
The criticism against Williams currently makes no sense since his last meaningful throw came back in January which allowed Cairo Santos to kick a game-winning field goal against the Green Bay Packers as time expired. Caleb Williams will make his 2025 preseason debut Sunday night against the Bills, and regardless how he performs, there will be scrutiny unless he has a flawless performance. Given what the quarterback went through during his rookie campaign, it is concerning that fans and media simply can’t afford the signal-caller patience while learning a new system under Johnson while saving their criticism for when the regular season fully gets underway.
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