(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season is in the books following the Chicago Bears' disastrous 27-24 loss to their division rival Minnesota Vikings. While the loss could be pinned on a variety of factors, the one that shines above the rest is the dismal passing performance of second year quarterback Caleb Williams. After a promising first quarter, the game seemed to slowly slip away from the former Heisman trophy winner, which head coach Ben Johnson sounded off on in the postgame presser.
"It was up and down. We had mixed results," Johnson admitted when asked to assess Caleb's performance. " There were some things that he did that were top-notch notch and I would put him up there with some of the best in the NFL. He had a couple of throws with guys in his face that he delivered on target that were very tough. I thought he did a good job evading when he felt pressure and yet there were still some that we would like to have back. There were probably three or four of them that we counted on tape that, at a minimum, that we would want back."
Williams started Monday night red hot, completing his first 10 passing attempts and scoring a rushing touchdown en route to putting the Bears up 7-0 against their NFC North foe. The electric first drive would not be a sign of things to come, however, as Williams completed just 11 of his next 25 passes and failed to lead another touchdown-scoring drive until just over two minutes remained in the game. Williams commented on what got away from him as the game progressed on Monday night.
"I think a few balls got batted," Williams responded when asked how the offense slowed their momentum following the first drive. "We had penalties and things like that. It slowed the drives down, slowed the momentum down that we had. We got to get better at those."
While Williams avoided throwing an interception, several overthrows of open receivers have brought questions from fans and pundits alike regarding his throwing accuracy. Williams failed to connect with his number one wideout DJ Moore multiple times despite being open, including on a critical 4th and 3 play midway through the second quarter that would've continued a promising drive and increased their lead and momentum. Williams brought up what went wrong on that play in the postgame press conference.
"Just missed right in front of him. Wide open. Moved the backer, came back, missed the same spot, same route. Like I said, it's frustrating, something you practice on throughout the whole week, something that I'll be better with, something you have to hit in those moments. I got to go back and watch it, honestly. I think I set too far in front of it and tried to lead him. Led him a little bit too far."
It's a long season, and Williams and the rest of the offense have nowhere to go but up following a dismal Week 1 showing. But questions regarding Williams's accuracy in his rookie season continue to haunt him into 2025, and he'll need an impressive bounce-back performance in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions to silence the critics.
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