Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams gave many fans hope after dominating the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night in the first half. Still, the wheels fell off on offense, leading to a 27-24 loss for Chicago.
Williams finished the contest, completing 60% of his passes for 210 yards and one touchdown, while rushing for another 58 yards and a touchdown. While he did a great job of not turning over the football, his intentional grounding call on top of multiple passes not being on target led to a disappointing loss.
Not all hope is lost for Williams as he still has 16 more games to get it right, but for now, he will have to take his licks from the media on where he ranks among the rest of the NFL quarterbacks. FanSided's Christopher Kline released his QB rankings after Week 1, with Williams finishing up at 21.
"Caleb Williams will benefit profoundly from Ben Johnson this season. We can't throw his rookie season out the window, but we can acknowledge that Williams was battling uphill in an ineffective scheme with a flawed supporting cast. The better O-line (and more creative play calls) should help Williams tap into his arm talent while taking fewer sacks. Williams still needs to ramp up his processing speed and know when to hit abort on a possession, but there are few quarterbacks as physically gifted as Chicago's No. 1 pick. He's 23 years old. This is just the beginning."
Is Williams' 21st ranking justified against the rest of the NFL?
Examining the stats from this past week in the NFL, it might be justified that he is actually in the right spot, if not too high. One good stat going for Williams is that he is ranked 13th in the NFL in QBR with 63.8. On the other hand, he's 21st in passer rating (86.6) and 27th in completion percentage.
What Williams has going for him is that he was fifth among quarterbacks in rushing yards. He showed off the wheels that not many people thought he had, as it appeared he had gotten faster.
One thing Williams will have to work on this week is his accuracy. Bears head coach Ben Johnson has a goal for him to be at a 70% completion percentage by the end of the season. As fans can see, he's a bit off that mark right now.
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Williams has a chance to bounce back with a critical showdown against NFC North rivals, the Detroit Lions, to try to avoid a 0-2 start. Bears fans wonder which Williams we are going to see on the field on Sunday.