Plenty of quarterbacks have earned respect from other NFL teams. Those are guys who are talented and capable leaders, always able to keep their teams in games. There have only been a select few who have instilled genuine fear in opposing players just by their mere presence. Names that come to mind include Joe Montana, John Elway, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Patrick Mahomes. These were guys who could find several different ways to beat you and were never out of games, regardless of the score. It sounds like Caleb Williams is fast entering that conversation.
At least according to other NFC North teams.
Stacey Dales has covered the division for several years as a sideline reporter. She’s spoken with representatives and players from all four teams. She told 104.3 The Score that, based on what she has heard from Green Bay, Minnesota, and Detroit, Williams is the most feared quarterback. It primarily stems from his uncanny ability to wiggle out of trouble and hit big plays off-script. Such a Houdini act has defenses losing sleep every time they have to go up against the Chicago Bears quarterback.
Caleb Williams presents challenges you can’t fully account for.
At least with Brady and Manning, you knew they weren’t running away from you. Williams is the evolution of what Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick started in the 1990s and 2000s. Not only is he dangerous with his legs, but he also couples that with one of the strongest arms in the NFL that can hit receivers at any level. There is nothing more demoralizing to a defense than watching a quarterback slither out of sacks seemingly every other play and then hitting chunk plays for 10, 20, or 30 yards.
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Williams is credited with avoiding 50 sacks last season. His ability to sense pressure and then contort his body to shrug off rushers was impossible to quantify. He did it almost every week, and seemed to save his biggest highlights for the division. Every rival felt the sting at least once in their meetings last season. Getting a free rusher worked on him many times in 2024. Last season, he started making teams pay for being too aggressive. He was actually better against the blitz than he was regular four-man rushes.
| Stat | Not blitzed | Blitzed |
| Pass attempts | 429 | 229 |
| Yards | 2,801 | 1,759 |
| Yards per attempt | 6.5 | 7.7 |
| Touchdowns | 15 | 16 |
| Interceptions | 6 | 6 |
There is no singular solution.
That is the biggest problem. Most quarterbacks have one specific way you can attack them and expect favorable results. That isn’t the case with Caleb Williams. Not anymore. Blitz him and the odds are good he’ll find a running lane to get the yards himself. Don’t blitz him and he will either hit the open man from a strong pocket or scramble out of trouble to make a play off-script. It is utterly maddening. The only thing defenses have to lean on is his low completion percentage, which can sometimes stall drives.
Yet even that didn’t stop him last season. Williams had the worst completion percentage in the NFL but still almost hit 4,000 yards, had 27 touchdowns, went 11-6, and won a playoff game. It’s little wonder defenses felt helpless at times. Even if something did work against Williams, it didn’t work for long. He always solved the puzzle by the end of the game, then struck when everybody was gassed. When a quarterback does that enough times, defenses start to expect it.
That is true fear.
