Caleb Williams' hamstring injury might have oddly made him a better Bears QB

Having Caleb Williams back as the Chicago Bears' starting quarterback has made life a lot better for the team, but he is truly playing at a different level than fans saw before his hamstring injury.

Williams played his second game since the hamstring injury in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings that cost him three games, and he balled out. The Bears picked up a 30-24 win over the New England Patriots in Week 7 on Thursday Night Football, and Williams was the star.

In the contest, he completed 22 of 33 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns, with his longest play being a 58-yard completion to Luther Burden III. Williams added another 18 rushing yards on five carries in the win. Those numbers are great, but when Bears fans watch him play, it just feels different from what everyone saw last year or even before the Week 2 injury.

Caleb Williams is playing his best football for the Bears in last two games

Since returning to the Bears' starting lineup, Williams has completed 75.4% of his 69 pass attempts for 613 yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions. That is the most yards in a two-game stretch of his young three-year NFL career.

His back-to-back 300-yard, zero-interception performance is also something special. Williams is the first quarterback this season to accomplish that.

This season, Williams has completed 71% of his passes for 1,020 yards and five touchdowns, with one interception in four games. He also has 24 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

The insane part right now is that Williams looks better in the pocket as a passer since coming back from the hamstring injury. In the first two games of the season, he embraced his newfound speed and became more of a mobile quarterback. That wasn't a major problem then, but things are different now.

Williams, in a way, has reverted to being more of a pocket passer like he was last year, as he wants to throw the football over running it. That might be mostly because he doesn't want to risk another hamstring injury, but it's helped him become a better passer.

At multiple points in the Patriots game, he stood strong in the pocket, took a hit with pressure in his face, and still made the completion. If Colston Loveland hadn't dropped two passes and Rome Odunze hadn't pushed off and dropped a pass in the end zone, Williams would have completed over 70% of his passes and added another touchdown.

Now, Williams is still showing he is willing to scramble out of the pocket, but he's looking to either throw to a receiver or throw it out of bounds. He isn't taking much risk with them and has done a great job protecting the football, as always.

How Caleb Williams can sustain the success over the course of the Bears' season

Everything is good for the Bears, for now, with Williams playing his best football. It's a shame he lost three games this year; otherwise, he would be a clear-cut MVP candidate in the NFL.

The question is whether he can sustain this success all season long. He has proven he can protect the football well no matter what happens, but whether he can stay accurate is the bigger question. He'll have to prove that over the next three months.

Williams will eventually get more comfortable running on the hamstring, so that part of his game will evolve. Whether he should do that is a big question since he is having so much success with throwing in the pocket.

Read more: Bears Week 7 inactives: T.J. Edwards, Kyle Monangai are officially out

The evidence on the field shows Williams is more motivated than ever after the injury, proving he is still an elite quarterback. Bears fans are witnessing him at the prime of his career, and he's only going to get better from here.

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