Caleb Williams has quietly started playing much better football. While most people have focused on the first four games of this season, the reality is that it started as far back as late November of last season. In his first 10 games, Williams had nine touchdowns, five interceptions, a 61.9% completion percentage, and an 82.3 passer rating. Since then, he has 19 touchdowns, three interceptions, a 62.9% completion percentage, and a 96.2 passer rating. All of this has happened despite inconsistent protection, no running game, and multiple changes to the coaching staff.
The national media haven’t yet acknowledged this improvement. That is probably because the Bears aren’t winning many games. They started 0-2, including a 52-21 thrashing at the hands of Detroit. However, after back-to-back wins, the buzz around Williams has begun to build. Nick Wright of FS1 has closely monitored the situation. In that time, he’s begun to notice something. He told the CHGO Bears podcast that Williams’ improvement strikingly resembles another top quarterback’s
Caleb Williams is learning the same lessons Allen did.
As Wright said, the two are completely different talents. Allen is a massive human being with the strength to power through tackles and strike deep. Caleb Williams is more about elusiveness, improvisation, and making big plays after escaping danger. The problem for Allen early in his career was that he only seemed interested in attacking. He struggled playing within the confines of an offense, moving the chains and taking what the defense gives him. That is why turnovers and inconsistency marred the first five months of his career. It wasn’t until October of his second season that things finally started clicking.
It feels like the same is happening for Williams, perhaps even faster than it did for Allen. There is more proving to do. His completion percentage still needs work, and he can stand to finish more drives with points. Still, the situation around him needs to improve as well. Head coach Ben Johnson has acknowledged that constantly. What he has accomplished deserves praise.
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