Nobody avoids sacks quite like Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Over the last five years, Williams' 2025 season was the best season in sacks avoided, trailing only Williams' 2024 rookie season. He avoided 23 sacks as a rookie and 22 sacks in his second NFL season.
Caleb Williams is the best in the NFL at avoiding sacks
This might seem like an issue for the offensive line, because they are putting Williams in position to avoid sacks often, but it is fair to say that some of this is Williams' problem as well. Nobody avoids as many sacks as Williams because nobody has as many opportunities to get sacked.
Williams tends to hold the ball longer than most quarterbacks, and when he does, he drifts out of the pocket. The good news is that he performs well in these moments, but the bad news is that he puts himself in a lot of opportunities to get sacked.
However, Williams and the offensive line do show up much better when it comes to the overall sack rate. Williams led the NFL in sacks taken during his rookie year. So, he was sacked the most and avoided the most sacks that season.
That is what makes the jump he made in 2025 so impressive. Williams still avoided a ton of sacks, but he did not take many sacks. He finished 22nd overall in sacks taken despite once again being one of the best quarterbacks in the league at avoiding pressure.
Williams was under pressure about 35% of the time in both seasons. In his rookie year, his pressure-to-sack rate was 27.8%. Then, in 2025, his pressure-to-sack rate dropped to 9.6%.
Williams was still creating big plays and avoiding sacks, but now there was far less downside to the way that he was playing.
Some of this likely comes down to Ben Johnson, and Johnson should only continue to improve these metrics. Williams extended a lot of plays under Johnson because it was a new and complicated offense. There were times when he was clearly thinking through what he was seeing rather than simply reacting.
Now that he is entering his second year in the offense, he should be more decisive. Johnson has already talked about Williams playing with a better rhythm, and that should naturally help him get the ball out quicker.
That does not mean Williams will suddenly stop creating outside of structure. That is one of the biggest strengths in his game and part of what makes him special.
However, if he can continue avoiding sacks while cutting down on some of the unnecessary pressure situations that he creates, it could unlock another level of play.
The avoided sacks may come down slightly, but if the pressure-to-sack rate stays low, the Bears could be looking at a much better version of Williams in 2026.
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