When the Chicago Bears entered the bye week off of a three-game winning streak, it looked as if Caleb Williams was starting to figure it out. He played three straight sound football games and showed progress in each one.
The question facing Williams exiting the bye week, however, is would he be able to continue that success against defenses that were better than the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
The answer is no in the two weeks after the bye week. Williams is 32-63 in the last two games with an average of 5.5 yards per attempt. To put that into perspective, Drake Maye is averaging 6.5 yards per attempt in the first three games that he has started, while Jayden Daniels has not started and finished a game where he is below 7.7 yards per attempt.
The Chicago Bears need more from Caleb Williams
Williams is struggling, and that is not compared to the rest of the league, it is compared to quarterbacks drafted directly behind him. The defenses are better than the previous three weeks, but Washington and Arizona offered untapped opportunities for for the Bears' offense.
We can cry about Shane Waldron, but the Patriots offense was a disaster before Maye stepped in. The Bears' offensive line is bad, but the Patriots have backups at almost every position, most notably left tackle and center.
Washington has Kliff Kingsbury, but his reputation was not all that before he was paired with Jayden Daniels. He flamed out with a predictable offense using Kyler Murray. The Washington offensive line features rookies and castoffs. Maye is throwing to guys like Kayshon Boutte, and the best receiver behind Terry McLaurin is Noah Brown, a player that was cut by Houston before the start of the season.
You can blame the playcalling, offensive lines, and wide receivers, but the other rookies are dealing with it as well, and it is not as bad. At some point, fans will need to accept that while Williams is not in as great of a spot as we thought he would be this summer, the situation is just fine and the results are not.