Bears 12.0

[dice]

Caleb’s game was above league average, he was 13th in QBR. 270 total yards, 2 touchdowns and no turnovers.

He had some atrocious moments in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, but the game as a whole was perfectly fine. We just harp on the negatives of the QB in a loss because it’s easy.

If you watched that game and thought Caleb Williams was "average" fair enough. I thought he was hot garbage. Maybe my definition of average is too high or maybe week 1 is skewed downward based on everyone still finding their rhythm.

Same problems seemed repeatedly out there to me:
1: Did not get ball out on time
2: Did not seem to make reads on time
3: Inaccurate passes on short balls that with accurate passes would have led to much larger gains

The numbers are all okay-ish, but watching the sausage being made left me feeling a lot worse than the numbers.

Not to say he won't be better next game or that he can't be the guy, but I would evaluate this game as very poor.

I generally agree. I am still of the mind that last year's fiasco gave him the yips. His confidence is his ability has got to be lower than when he started last season. Putting a rookie QB behind an AWFUL OL last season was a sure recipe for failure. IMO, it's linked to his inability to get comfortable in the pocket this year...he's looking for defenders getting past the OL when he should be looking for open receivers.

the OL was objectively not awful. the coaching was awful

[dice]

Read on Twitter

Not good.

i see a pretty good QB in caleb's vicinity there

[dice]

I think that was true last season. Probably still true. But the guy has serious accuracy problems. There was some EZ pass to make that he just tossed over Odunze's head. Odunze probably should've caught it, but it should've just been an easy completion.

Honestly I think Caleb was having a pity party for himself. He began firing the ball in the general direction of receivers without conviction and rhythm out of frustration both because he’s uncomfortable playing how the Bears are asking him to play, and that it’s difficult for him. If half the things in the Dunne piece are accurate, kid has issues.

Oh god. I just read the "free preview" of it but it checks out. There were so many red flags with Caleb including his attitude which showed to the fans at multiple points. These things didn't exist with Jayden Daniels. Better athlete, better attitude, better college stats against better teams. I don't get how everyone got so hoodwinked.

I'm thinking about this occurrence: and the response was "Waldron is a goof and Caleb is locked in" but the guy is simply a diva with absolutely nothing to show for it.

JD was only better in 2023...against marginally worse competition

[dice]

did i see it wrong or was there no player contact prior to ball being punched out on BJ's challenge?

[TheGOATRises007]

did i see it wrong or was there no player contact prior to ball being punched out on BJ's challenge?

I didn't think so either.

I thought for catches, a player needs contact to be downed, but it seems to be applicable as the refs please.

Unless there's a clear and concise ruling on this I missed.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

JD was only better in 2023...against marginally worse competition

in their respective senior seasons, right? one guy improved each year in college and the other was the same each year doing Jimmer type things. we also got hindsight now, Jayden is literally a better nfl player...he played better against actual good teams in college, and I think the evidence was there beforehand.
It sorta reminds me of D Rose vs Michael Beasley. Derrick had an actual good "head on his shoulders" (despite later off court issues and the SAT 'scandal') and SuperCool Beaz was kind of a knucklehead. I think every team would've picked Caleb over JD whereas Rose/Beasley wasn't super clear cut, so can't really blame the Bears for it.
But, man, Caleb is kind of just a loser, isn't he? That referenced article is super telling and it confirmed a lot of my suspicions. My brother who posts on this forum made this point and i thought it was a good one, "why are so many veterans talking to the press about how stupid Caleb is?"
Maybe being benched for Bagent is the wakeup call that he needs to get better. I don't doubt he has it in him to improve, it just doesn't seem like he wants to.

[TheGOATRises007]

That hit article that came out on Caleb sounds like nonsense though. If he had a learning disability, it would have been known.

Seems like Waldron fed info to get the monkey off his back for how bad he was last season.

[fleet]

did i see it wrong or was there no player contact prior to ball being punched out on BJ's challenge?

I didn't think so either.

I thought for catches, a player needs contact to be downed, but it seems to be applicable as the refs please.

Unless there's a clear and concise ruling on this I missed.

Nick Wright says if a player’s knee is down, and you punch the ball, the ball is the same as part of the body, so player is down by contact the moment ball is touched. Different if knee is not already down. If knee is not already down, then yes, its a forced fumble when ball is punched. Ben Johnson is on the hook for not knowing the rule. Belichick would have known the rule. Speaking of Nick Wright, he is now slowwwwly backing away from Caleb. Wright is expressing concern. Once Caleb starts losing his grip on Nick Wright, that’s a thing.

[dougthonus]

did i see it wrong or was there no player contact prior to ball being punched out on BJ's challenge?

I didn't think so either.

I thought for catches, a player needs contact to be downed, but it seems to be applicable as the refs please.

Unless there's a clear and concise ruling on this I missed.

Nick Wright says if a player’s knee is down, and you punch the ball, the ball is the same as part of the body, so player is down by contact the moment ball is touched. Different if knee is not already down. If knee is not already down, then yes, its a forced fumble when ball is punched. Ben Johnson is on the hook for not knowing the rule. Belichick would have known the rule. Speaking of Nick Wright, he is now slowwwwly backing away from Caleb. Wright is expressing concern. Once Caleb starts losing his grip on Nick Wright, that’s a thing.

They were trying to cue the rules expert to explain this on the broadcast, but he F'd it up and started talking about how punching the ball isn't a penalty.

[fleet]

I didn't think so either.

I thought for catches, a player needs contact to be downed, but it seems to be applicable as the refs please.

Unless there's a clear and concise ruling on this I missed.

Nick Wright says if a player’s knee is down, and you punch the ball, the ball is the same as part of the body, so player is down by contact the moment ball is touched. Different if knee is not already down. If knee is not already down, then yes, its a forced fumble when ball is punched. Ben Johnson is on the hook for not knowing the rule. Belichick would have known the rule. Speaking of Nick Wright, he is now slowwwwly backing away from Caleb. Wright is expressing concern. Once Caleb starts losing his grip on Nick Wright, that’s a thing.

They were trying to cue the rules expert to explain this on the broadcast, but he F'd it up and started talking about how punching the ball isn't a penalty.

I know. My head was spinning. And also they were talking as if the ball carrier was touched on a body part before the ball was punched. And I’m like, are we watching the same broadcast? No.

[imagge]

The actual rule is the ball is considered a part of the body. The ball was contacted while his knee was on the ground therefore the punching of the ball means the ball carrier was touched while he was down.

[molepharmer]

While we're on the rules......does anybody remember one of the Bears receivers catching a pass near the sideline which was called incomplete because they ruled him out of bounds, but it looked like replay showed his elbow hitting the ground first inbounds. Maybe elbow isn't enough to be a completion or maybe his shoulder, which the view angle didn't show clearly, hit out of bounds.

And, fwiw, I don't think Caleb is ever going to be accurate until he gets his footwork and hips aligned with his receiving target. He relies on his arm talent too much when he initially needs to get his footwork better - fundamentals. That is one thing that Bagent, and probably Case, does a heck of a lot better than Caleb.

[Dresden]

I like this guys channel. Does a good job of breaking things down from the QB's perspective and even if you don't listen to his commentary, he shows a ton of film so you can see what's going on, what the concepts are, who was open, who wasn't, how the blocking held up, etc.

Watch on YouTube

. (Tim Jenkins You Tube- All Things QB)

Caleb is just leaving a lot of plays out on the field. Multiple plays where guys were open, often for big gains, and Caleb just doesn't see them, or takes the check down instead. Sprinkle in a number of flat out misses. There's no reason we should not have won this game, and scored a bunch more points, and moved the ball much better than we did. Caleb has got to be better, there's no two ways around it.

I'm convinced Bagent would have made a bunch of these throws that Caleb missed on, or didn't even attempt because he wasn't looking in the right place. has to be frustrating for the rest of the offense and for the coaches. DJ in particular was open for several long gains. He's doing his job.

[Dresden]

Jonah Jackson gave up 5 pressures, had two false starts, and his PFF pass block grade was 22.6. Horrible

[IliketheBullsNBearstoo]

If Caleb continues to struggle I anticipate an "injury" just so he can do some classroom work from the sidelines.

[jnrjr79]

I thought this was a pretty accurate summary of Caleb's performance today in The Ringer:

Johnson’s system in Detroit was built around Goff’s timing and precision, so when he was hired by Chicago, many questioned how that would work with a quarterback who is known—and revered—for his scramble-drill plays. And with Williams running all over the field in Monday’s 27-24 loss against the Vikings, it seemed like those concerns were warranted. But a review of the tape showed that Williams wasn’t turning down many open throws while scrambling. Chicago’s run game had a rough night on Monday, so Johnson’s pass calls weren’t springing receivers open in the same way they did in Detroit. Here are all 12 of the plays in which the Minnesota defense moved Williams off his initial spot in the pocket, per Pro Football Focus. Count how many open receivers you see running downfield before he starts to move. There aren’t many!

And there are two important numbers that can’t be ignored: (1) Williams was sacked only twice even though he faced pressure on 44 percent of his dropbacks, which was the second-highest rate for any quarterback in Week 1, and (2) the Bears offense averaged 0.49 expected points added per play when Williams was moved off his spot, per PFF. Williams went off script out of necessity, and it was the most productive aspect of the Bears offense on Monday night.

Now, Williams’s deeply concerning accuracy issues when throwing downfield contributed to that. He left at least three big plays on the field because of wildly missed throws.

But we’re still talking about three plays in a game in which Williams finished with a decent stat line against a defense that’s considered to be among the NFL’s elite. His 63.8 QBR from the game was the 13th-best mark of the week, per ESPN. He ranked 14th in success rate, per TruMedia. It wasn’t a terrible performance. But it was a terrible loss for the Bears.

https://www.theringer.com/2025/09/10/nfl/nfl-week-1-real-not-real-caleb-williams-lions-chiefs-kickoff-dolphins

[fleet]

I thought this was a pretty accurate summary of Caleb's performance today in The Ringer:

Johnson’s system in Detroit was built around Goff’s timing and precision, so when he was hired by Chicago, many questioned how that would work with a quarterback who is known—and revered—for his scramble-drill plays. And with Williams running all over the field in Monday’s 27-24 loss against the Vikings, it seemed like those concerns were warranted. But a review of the tape showed that Williams wasn’t turning down many open throws while scrambling. Chicago’s run game had a rough night on Monday, so Johnson’s pass calls weren’t springing receivers open in the same way they did in Detroit. Here are all 12 of the plays in which the Minnesota defense moved Williams off his initial spot in the pocket, per Pro Football Focus. Count how many open receivers you see running downfield before he starts to move. There aren’t many!

And there are two important numbers that can’t be ignored: (1) Williams was sacked only twice even though he faced pressure on 44 percent of his dropbacks, which was the second-highest rate for any quarterback in Week 1, and (2) the Bears offense averaged 0.49 expected points added per play when Williams was moved off his spot, per PFF. Williams went off script out of necessity, and it was the most productive aspect of the Bears offense on Monday night.

Now, Williams’s deeply concerning accuracy issues when throwing downfield contributed to that. He left at least three big plays on the field because of wildly missed throws.

But we’re still talking about three plays in a game in which Williams finished with a decent stat line against a defense that’s considered to be among the NFL’s elite. His 63.8 QBR from the game was the 13th-best mark of the week, per ESPN. He ranked 14th in success rate, per TruMedia. It wasn’t a terrible performance. But it was a terrible loss for the Bears.

https://www.theringer.com/2025/09/10/nfl/nfl-week-1-real-not-real-caleb-williams-lions-chiefs-kickoff-dolphins

Caleb’s career evaluation is in context of being a number one overall “generational” talent. If he only is not terrible or average, that’s crushing for the Bears who bypassed 2 years of quarterbacks that are going to be better than not terrible. The Bears never had a quarterback. The opportunity cost of choosing Caleb Williams is significant. His counterpart on the other team is the youngest starter in the NFL, and he went out and won the game on the road displaying amazing guts. That’s what Caleb’s job description is. Minimizing Caleb falling way short of that is kind of frustrating. He’s got to be a lot better.

[jnrjr79]

I thought this was a pretty accurate summary of Caleb's performance today in The Ringer:

Johnson’s system in Detroit was built around Goff’s timing and precision, so when he was hired by Chicago, many questioned how that would work with a quarterback who is known—and revered—for his scramble-drill plays. And with Williams running all over the field in Monday’s 27-24 loss against the Vikings, it seemed like those concerns were warranted. But a review of the tape showed that Williams wasn’t turning down many open throws while scrambling. Chicago’s run game had a rough night on Monday, so Johnson’s pass calls weren’t springing receivers open in the same way they did in Detroit. Here are all 12 of the plays in which the Minnesota defense moved Williams off his initial spot in the pocket, per Pro Football Focus. Count how many open receivers you see running downfield before he starts to move. There aren’t many!

And there are two important numbers that can’t be ignored: (1) Williams was sacked only twice even though he faced pressure on 44 percent of his dropbacks, which was the second-highest rate for any quarterback in Week 1, and (2) the Bears offense averaged 0.49 expected points added per play when Williams was moved off his spot, per PFF. Williams went off script out of necessity, and it was the most productive aspect of the Bears offense on Monday night.

Now, Williams’s deeply concerning accuracy issues when throwing downfield contributed to that. He left at least three big plays on the field because of wildly missed throws.

But we’re still talking about three plays in a game in which Williams finished with a decent stat line against a defense that’s considered to be among the NFL’s elite. His 63.8 QBR from the game was the 13th-best mark of the week, per ESPN. He ranked 14th in success rate, per TruMedia. It wasn’t a terrible performance. But it was a terrible loss for the Bears.

https://www.theringer.com/2025/09/10/nfl/nfl-week-1-real-not-real-caleb-williams-lions-chiefs-kickoff-dolphins

Caleb’s career evaluation is in context of being a number one overall “generational” talent. If he only is not terrible or average, that’s crushing for the Bears who bypassed 2 years of quarterbacks that are going to be better than not terrible. The Bears never had a quarterback. The opportunity cost of choosing Caleb Williams is significant

I guess I don't see how that's responsive to a specific evaluation of how he performed in his first game under Johnson.

In any event, I don't agree that Caleb has to become a "generational" QB in order for the pick to be successful, but I agree he has to become better than average. He doesn't need to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but he probably needs to be ~Russell Wilson for me to think it all worked out fine. Maybe Philip Rivers? It's kind of an interesting question: who is the least good (but still very good) QB who, if Caleb became as good an NFL player as him, you'd be happy? And that doesn't really mean achievements - obviously there are bad QBs who have won SBs and great QBs who have not, so I'm really talking about just overall QB capability.

EDIT: I see you edited and connected up why you were saying that relative to the article. I don't agree with that criticism at all. The author was just reviewing the performance. It's not his job (unless he wants to) to put it in the broader context of expectations for Caleb. He's just breaking down film on one game.

One other thing I'd add here while I'm at it - I think the people itchy to turn to Bagent after one game (and I'm saying you are doing that) are just nuts. The Bears have invested significantly in Caleb and have to see it through, even if it's painful. It took Josh Allen several years to become Josh Allen and he likely never does if the Bills are impatient.

[Dresden]

I thought this was a pretty accurate summary of Caleb's performance today in The Ringer:

Johnson’s system in Detroit was built around Goff’s timing and precision, so when he was hired by Chicago, many questioned how that would work with a quarterback who is known—and revered—for his scramble-drill plays. And with Williams running all over the field in Monday’s 27-24 loss against the Vikings, it seemed like those concerns were warranted. But a review of the tape showed that Williams wasn’t turning down many open throws while scrambling. Chicago’s run game had a rough night on Monday, so Johnson’s pass calls weren’t springing receivers open in the same way they did in Detroit. Here are all 12 of the plays in which the Minnesota defense moved Williams off his initial spot in the pocket, per Pro Football Focus. Count how many open receivers you see running downfield before he starts to move. There aren’t many!

And there are two important numbers that can’t be ignored: (1) Williams was sacked only twice even though he faced pressure on 44 percent of his dropbacks, which was the second-highest rate for any quarterback in Week 1, and (2) the Bears offense averaged 0.49 expected points added per play when Williams was moved off his spot, per PFF. Williams went off script out of necessity, and it was the most productive aspect of the Bears offense on Monday night.

Now, Williams’s deeply concerning accuracy issues when throwing downfield contributed to that. He left at least three big plays on the field because of wildly missed throws.

But we’re still talking about three plays in a game in which Williams finished with a decent stat line against a defense that’s considered to be among the NFL’s elite. His 63.8 QBR from the game was the 13th-best mark of the week, per ESPN. He ranked 14th in success rate, per TruMedia. It wasn’t a terrible performance. But it was a terrible loss for the Bears.

https://www.theringer.com/2025/09/10/nfl/nfl-week-1-real-not-real-caleb-williams-lions-chiefs-kickoff-dolphins

After watching Tim Jenkins breakdown of Caleb's performance I would disagree with the notion that he was holding onto the ball because his receivers weren't getting open. Jenkins showed multiple opportunities to get the ball downfield to open receivers that Caleb either didn't see, or missed on. It doesn't take many of those to make the difference between scoring 2 TD's, and scoring 4.

The pressure didn't seem that bad. On a few plays, yes, but that's the NFL. Caleb held onto it for an average of something around 3.4 secs last night.

As for the most productive plays coming off script, that is only because Caleb was breaking a lot of those scrambles for sizable gains with his feet. On many of those plays, he could have made an even better play by throwing to open man.

[Dresden]

BTW, PFF grades showed Darnell being clearly the best lineman last night. Thuney, Dalman and Braxton were all about the same (so much for the fears that Braxton would be a major weakness). Jonah Jackson was substantially worse than the others.

One bright spot was that Odeyingbo had a sack last night, and so did the guy that called up off the practice squad.

A very quiet night for Sweat though. Like Caleb, he better take a step forward this year.