You see flashes from McCarthy. He directed three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter during the comeback win in Chicago in Week 1. In Sunday’s loss to Baltimore, he made two nice throws to Jalen Nailor, one for a 62-yard gain on the opening drive, the other for a TD late in the fourth quarter. His timing with Jefferson on a pass into the end zone in the third quarter was perfect, the throw just a little off.
If you are uncomfortable with a rival QB being a guide for McCarthy, then look at New England’s Drake Maye, who is completing 71.7% of his passes and has a 113.9 quarterback rating this season after starting 12 games in 2024. He was the third overall pick by New England last year.
Williams has taken a step forward this season, directing four game-winning drives, including the past two Sundays. He’s on pace to throw for more than 4,000 yards, which no Bears quarterback has done. Yes, Chicago’s quarterbacking history is that bad.
With more reps, and coach Kevin O’Connell’s guidance, McCarthy can one day flourish like Daniels, Nix and Maye have. Williams isn’t there yet either but is making progress.
“All experience being good experience for him right now,” O’Connell said of McCarthy. “You’d love to make them all after wins, but we got to do the things required as a team. And then, J.J. is going to make a lot of those plays for us. And like I said, the compete, his willingness to lay it on the line and try to make the plays are very much things we knew about him.