Caleb Williams is tired of hearing about his completion percentage. And honestly, you can’t really blame him.
The Chicago Bears quarterback took plenty of heat after his rookie season. The stat line that got the most attention: 58.1% completion rate on 568 attempts, with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. That ranked him 32nd out of 33 eligible passers. Not great. But Williams doesn’t think that tells the whole story.
He’s got a point, and he’s ready to make it loudly this season.
What the numbers don’t show
According to a report from the NFL, Williams addressed the criticism head-on and talked about his plan to improve and basically shut everybody up. But he also explained that a lot of those low-percentage passes were intentional. He’s throwing the ball away out of bounds or into the turf to avoid negative plays. That kills his completion rate but keeps the offense alive on third and fourth down.
He trusts his coaching staff to go for it in those situations. And they do. He pointed out that after studying guys like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, he noticed most of them sat between 62% and 65%. Not miles above where he’s at, but the difference is that they had more time and better situations to build those numbers.
Williams wants to improve his efficiency anyway, especially early in games. The Bears need faster starts, and he knows he’s a big part of that fix.
A coaching philosophy that’s totally different
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer dropped an interesting note this week. He talked to quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett, who said his main focus this offseason is showing Williams that they don’t have to work as hard for their money. That’s a big turn from last summer, when Barrett, Ben Johnson and Declan Doyle had a different approach entirely.
They basically dumped the entire playbook on him in one offseason. They wanted to speed up his development by overwhelming him. Some might say it worked well enough since he threw 27 touchdowns. But the inconsistency was real.
Now the plan is more about efficiency. Less grinding through every page of the book, more sharpening the stuff that actually works on Sundays.
The moment a veteran changed his mindset
One of the more interesting parts of this story came from a frustrating practice this offseason. NBC Sports reported that veteran wide receiver Kalif “Leaf” Raymond pulled Williams aside after a rough period on the field.
Raymond told him something simple but heavy: “Everybody’s looking at you.”
That stuck with Williams. The young quarterback realized he can’t show frustration every time something goes wrong. His teammates feed off his energy, for better or worse. If he stays steady, they stay steady. If he unravels, they might too.
Williams has talked before about keeping an even keel. But hearing it from a guy who’s been around the league seems to have hit different. The leadership side of his game might be where the real jump happens this season.
The Bears are counting on that jump. The criticism isn’t going away until the numbers move. But Williams sounds like he’s figured out that the numbers aren’t the only thing he needs to fix.
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