If you were to ask Chicago Bears fans what the biggest concern with Caleb Williams is this season, most would say one of two things. Either he is holding onto the ball too long, which is a carryover from last year, or his low completion percentage. Going into Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, it sits at 59.7%. The league average is 64%. Many consider this the primary reason the passing game hasn’t gotten on track this year, despite the continued success of the offense overall. Such is the nature of playing quarterback. The blame falls on you when things aren’t clicking.
However, Williams does have his share of defenders. Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports is one of them. He has watched the Bears’ offense unfold all season. He is convinced that while Williams does deserve some blame, not enough people are acknowledging another reality. That is Ben Johnson’s system. While his offense has done wonders this year, it has asked a lot of Williams. Among the biggest is the lack of outlet pass options. Johnson is hunting big plays and requires Williams to hit them.
It sounds simple, but that’s difficult for a young QB who is still learning a new playing style.
Caleb Williams looks comfortable, and common complaints against him are due to the offense’s design
Johnson craves explosives. Every interview he talks about them, and he practices what he preaches. The Bears’ play-action concepts are built to seek out chunk plays…
…There are some qualms with Williams’ completion rate, but that’s the design of this offense. There aren’t a ton of gimmes in it. Sure, screen passes are sprinkled in, but the entire plane isn’t built out of quick-hitters and bubbles and flat routes. Johnson is comfortable making one 20-yard gain that they hit half of the time as opposed to stacking together multiple 4-to-6-yard gains in a row. And Williams is finding plays in-structure, while also creating his Garrincha-like moments to make free running defenders miss in the pocket.
There is a narrative that Williams holds onto the ball too long that is simply unfounded. The offensive plays are designed for him to hold the ball long, which makes sense; it takes longer to attack down the field, especially for an offense that uses a high rate of under-center play action. Williams also enters creation mode for good reason, whether it’s making a free running defender miss or because a receiver doesn’t pop open.
Context is key when assessing Caleb Williams.
Have some of his passes been off-target? Yes. That said, this whole completion percentage issue is far more nuanced than people want to admit. For one, Bears receivers have 17 dropped passes this year. That doesn’t help. If they catch most of those, Caleb Williams is much closer to league average. Add Johnson’s intentional decision to craft a passing game that attacks the intermediate and deep levels, and it becomes clear that not all of this is simply the quarterback being bad.
It always comes back to execution. Good teams learn to execute plays with efficiency and precision. The Bears are still in their first year with this offense. Executing it at a high level with a second-year quarterback was asking a lot. The great irony, though? Chicago is 5-0 in games where Williams had his lowest completion percentages. Perhaps that number is less significant than people would like to admit.
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