The Chicago Bears have suddenly emerged as a playoff-caliber team in Ben Johnson's first season as head coach. Despite going the last four years without a playoff appearance and six consecutive seasons without winning the NFC North, the 9-4 Bears are currently the NFC's seventh-seed and have put together a solid season up to this point under second-year quarterback Caleb Williams.
Although Williams continues to make eye-opening plays and somehow evade the pocket when pressure is staring him right in the face, he has not been flawless by any means. One of his main areas of concern has been his completion percentage, which is something Johnson would like to see him improve moving forward and establish a better rhythm.
"It's one of those things we are still working through," Johnson said, per CHGO Bears. "Last, call it four or five games, I haven't felt like we are stacking completions."
Caleb Williams Needs to Establish a Better Rhythm in the Passing Game
There is no denying Williams' ability to scramble away from oncoming pressure and make something out of a play that most QBs would fall prey to a sack on, or even worse, commit a turnover. With 65 carries for 321 yards and three TDs, Williams is clearly a threat with his legs, as he showed during his rookie season with 489 rushing yards. His completion percentage, though, tells an entirely different story and is something he must improve upon if the Bears are truly going to take that next step.
In his last six games, Williams has had a completion percentage of 58.8% or worse, including a season-worst 47.2% in the win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday. His overall completion percentage (57.8%) is 37th in the league, trailing QBs like Marcus Mariota (62.9%), Kirk Cousins (62.6%), Joe Flacco (60.2%), and Dillon Gabriel (59.5%), all of whom, outside of Flacco, were not even starters at the beginning of the season.
One issue that has kept Williams from breaking out has been the lack of chemistry between him and wide receiver DJ Moore. The Carolina Panthers traded Moore to the Bears in 2023, but since Williams was selected first overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, the wideout's production has diminished. In Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers, Moore was held to just one catch for minus-4 yards, and that was even with leading receiver Rome Odunze out for the game with a foot injury.
Still, Williams has been spreading the ball around to rookies Colston Loveland (435 yards, four TDs) and Luther Burden III (395 yards, one TD), so there are clearly no issues distributing the ball to his playmakers when the accuracy is there. Something Williams has to compliment him is the league's second-best rushing attack in yards per game (152.6 YPG) between D'Andre Swift (837 yards, five TDs) and Kyle Monangai (648 yards, five TDs), which takes some of the load off his shoulders when the rhythm is not there in the pass game.
With that said, for Chicago to retake the NFC North lead from the Packers and keep teams like the Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers behind it in the playoff race, Williams has to be more accurate and do a better job going through his progressions as the pressure ramps up. The potential is clearly there with his athleticism; however, if he cannot establish a rhythm of completing passes, Chicago's playoff fate could be on the line, especially if it becomes one-dimensional.