The Chicago Bears lost to the Green Bay Packers in a game where Caleb Williams threw zero touchdowns. It will be hard for the Bears to look back at this game and say this was Williams at his best.
However, if you are looking for underlying reasons to believe in his growth, there are plenty of reasons to believe in the progress that Williams showed on Sunday.
What makes Sunday's game arguably the best of Williams' career?
First off, aside from the lack of touchdowns, most of his stats were good.
Williams completed 74.2% of his passes, which is the second-best mark of his career, behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars game. He averaged 7.5 yards per attempt, which was third-best behind only the Jaguars and Carolina Panthers wins. Lastly, he added 70 rushing yards, which was a career-high. On top of that, he was 3-3 for 49 yards on the final drive, a drive that put the Bears in field position to kick a game-winning field goal. He converted a huge third down on that drive, and he could have had more completions and yards if the team decided to push it a little more.
That, along with the team he played is what separates this game from the others. When you look at Williams’ stats, this is easily a top-three game, with the Panthers and Jaguars being included. The difference is that the Jaguars rank 32nd in defensive efficiency, the Panthers rank 31st, and the Packers rank 10th.
Playing well against the two worst defenses in the NFL is not a bad sign, but it is not as impressive, either. The Packers are a legitimate defense and the first legitimate defense that Williams played well against.
The Packers came into the game tied for second in interceptions. Williams has been much better with protecting the ball in recent weeks, but against a defense that can confuse you and take the ball away, he did not fall into the trap.
At USC, it was widely known that Williams beat up the bad teams and then struggled in the big games. It was starting to become the same trend in the NFL. For Williams to play this well against a defense that is talented should have Bears fans looking back and saying that this is the most confident that they are in their quarterback moving forward.