That Caleb Williams column by Tyler Dunne didn’t paint Caleb Williams in the best light, raising serious concerns about whether the quarterback has the necessary mental faculties to play in the NFL. His opener on Monday night against Minnesota didn’t do anything to quiet those criticisms. After a great first drive of the game, Williams spent most of the remaining four quarters struggling to do anything. While he didn’t take a bevy of sacks like last year, the alarming part was how inaccurate he was.
Williams sailed far too many passes all night, demonstrating a lack of accuracy at all levels. Head coach Ben Johnson gave him some big opportunities throughout the game, but the quarterback just couldn’t hit them. This miss to D.J. Moore in the fourth quarter was one of the most consequential of the game.
These are passes professional quarterbacks should hit 90% of the time. Williams didn’t just miss. It wasn’t even close. It was like that most of the night. Putting up 17 points at home is unacceptable. Williams finished 21-of-35, good for a 60% completion percentage, far below Johnson’s desired 70%.
Caleb Williams looked unsure.
That was the frustrating part. He had months to prepare for that game. He’d already seen much of what Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores does. Johnson is a quality play-caller. Things started beautifully. It was inexcusable for Caleb Williams to regress like that. Conversations have already begun on social media. Fans can’t help but notice many of the same issues that haunted Williams at times last season. They’re starting to wonder if this is something he won’t grow out of.
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Nobody disputes his toughness or God-given talent. The core issue is processing speed. Johnson’s offense requires the quarterback to handle lots of information quickly. Williams again seemed overwhelmed at times, resulting in late throws. Now it’s the first game of the season. It is a brand-new offense. Williams will get a grace period, and he should. Still, if these problems persist in October and November, the calls for a change will get louder.
Poor guy can’t even come up with an excuse for how bad his favorite player performed with literally everything set up for him to succeed so he pulls out a false meme from 2023 to bash the old qb. Give some one a hug buddy, it’ll make you feel better.
Hey Bears57, I’m just going to leave this here.
Well for me, the issue is that game 1 of the Ben Johnson Era looked too much like most games from the Eberflus era. Poor coaching, poor execution, poor talent, poor discipline. I am on record as saying give them until game 8. If it still looks like this, then press the panic button. But go back and watch the game again. Caleb’s accuracy, field vision, processing time – awful. The OL play – undisciplined and not good enough. RBs – not good enough. WRs – in 2nd gear on most routes, time management – poor. There’s a lot to… Read more »
If Caleb could complete open passes like Bagent and Swift could run harder than Bambi, then the Bears would have won the game.
@Barry The issue is that the only thing people do is advocate for change, and it’s getting worse. Just reading through comments here and in a bunch of other places, we’re now at the point where people are demanding to blow it all up after one game with everything from Ben Johnson is an idiot, terrible coach, was a bad choice, to benching Caleb, firing Poles right now, Dennis Allen can’t call a defense, and on and on and on. I get being pissed off, but the over reactions are exhausting. Maybe people have forgotten what it’s like to actually… Read more »