Caleb Williams is already a star in the eyes of Chicago Bears fans. What he accomplished last season was unlike anything they’ve seen before, at least not from a Bears quarterback. Their standards might be somewhat lower compared to the rest of the league, though. Madden developers excluded. One thing we’ve learned by this point is that Williams has his fair share of admirers inside the NFL. Many feel he’s a game-changer with a rare clutch gene few quarterbacks possess. Is he elite, though?
No, at least not yet. Albert Breer of the MMQB held a poll of coaches and executives around the league to gauge how the current quarterback landscape is viewed. Williams ranked 9th among voters. An offensive coordinator believes he’s close to being one of the guys.
“Caleb is an awesome talent,” said one AFC offensive coordinator. “In a year or two, if he stays the course with Ben Johnson, he will be top three. His physical talent is freakish.”
Jeff Howe of The Athletic also ran a poll of his own. The comments from an executive followed a largely parallel line of thinking. Williams already has the make-something-out-of-nothing magic down. Can he learn to operate an offense with more precision? If he can, nobody will stop him.
“He’s got special (Patrick) Mahomes-type stuff in those scenarios outside the pocket, but he’s not there yet inside the pocket,” an executive said. “Maybe he’ll get there with Ben and be a top-five QB, though. I just want to see more consistent plays from the pocket.”
Caleb Williams will go one of two directions in his career.
We’ll call one the Michael Vick path and the other the Steve Young path. Vick was a superstar during his era in the 2000s, but he never accomplished much from a team perspective. Most felt it was because of the way he played. His tendency to lean on his scrambling and off-script playmaking was great for highlights, but it didn’t translate into consistent wins. By contrast, Young was a constant scrambler early in his career as well. However, under Bill Walsh’s guidance, he learned to operate primarily from the pocket, becoming one of the game’s best quarterbacks.
🔥 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel to hear Chicago legends tell stories you’ve never seen in headlines — real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.
Several quarterbacks have walked those paths. Colin Kaepernick and Kyler Murray followed Vick, while Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson fell more in line with Young. That is the gulf Caleb Williams is trying to cross. Everybody knows he is a brilliant improviser. Few have his knack for slithering out of trouble and making plays outside the pocket. The problem is that the style of play gets easier to defend once teams have seen it enough. Playing on time and in rhythm has been and remains the most difficult style of play to stop. There isn’t much defenses can do when the QB has the ball out so consistently.
The structure around Williams is perfect for this.
Head coach Ben Johnson has installed an offensive system predicated on playing under center with lots of play action. Quarterbacks must know how to work from the pocket in that type of scheme. There is also the offensive line, which stood up well in pass protection last season. By keeping Williams upright, his confidence in the pocket should grow. Lastly, there are the weapons. With guys like Colston Loveland and Luther Burden getting open frequently, the quarterback has less need to improvise.
We saw glimpses of that player last season. Williams can do it. It’s not like he was constantly struggling to play from the pocket. It is only a matter of finding consistency. That often comes with more experience in the offense. Plenty of quarterbacks go through similar growing pains. Williams doesn’t seem perturbed by the challenge. If anything, he embraces it. He wants to be great and will do everything required.
