Caleb Williams, the Chicago Bears quarterback, experienced a rollercoaster of emotions during his 2025 season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. Williams greatly exceeded expectations in his first start, going 21 for 35 for 210 yards and one touchdown. The one-week wonder’s game was unrealized due to catastrophic incompletion rates in the second half. Williams had flashes of excellence, though he lost his starting spot to Daniel Jones right before kickoff. This sudden change rung alarm bells on his faithfulness and clutch performance.
In that opening stanza, Williams showed everyone that Williams was that dude. He went 13 for 16 with an 81% completion percentage. He released the ball as fast as anyone, but he had the quickest release out of all. When he shot it off in under 2.5 seconds, he only managed to be 62.5% accurate. This initial advance represented a new record. It was the longest streak of completions for a Bears quarterback to open a season opener since 1978.
It all changed completely and drastically in the third and fourth quarters. Williams’ completion percentage unsurprisingly plummeted to a dismal 42%. He overcame major difficulties with an off-target rate of 29.4%, deepening his agony as the worst such performer in the NFL for Week 1. This inconsistency came to a head in one of the worst performances that proved to be the Bears’ felt 27-24 loss by inches.
Though these injuries have left their mark, Williams pointed out how much good there still is to extract from the game. He spoke of the importance of regrouping when the bad plays happened, saying that.
“I think that’s always something that quarterbacks need to have in their mind and something I always try to have in my mind, is be decisive.” – Caleb Williams
Williams faced the most notable obstacles in the red zone. As a result, Jones had a 31% off-target rate that was the second worst in the league. He lost all sense of accuracy when throwing left. This led to an atrocious -5.2% Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE), which was good for 31st out of 37 qualifying quarterbacks.
“The decisiveness always wins. When you start being hesitant and things like that, you start missing passes and easy passes that you feel that you don’t typically miss.” – Caleb Williams
Ben Johnson, the Bears’ offensive coordinator, acknowledged Williams’ ups and downs during the game. He lauded Williams for making multiple high degree-of-difficulty throws under duress while identifying places where he can improve.
“There was a lot of positive that came out of that. Obviously we had negatives… It’s being able to find in those moments where maybe a drive goes bad, and it’s being able to find those ways to come back together.” – Caleb Williams
Johnson pointed to individual throws that flashed Williams’ potential on one play while the overall inconsistency was evident on another.
He assured that there were critical plays that Williams would want to have back, saying,
“There were some things that he did that were top-notch, and I would put him up there with some of the best in the NFL,” – Ben Johnson
While both Williams and Johnson acknowledge that practice will be key in honing skillful accuracy and jurisdictional decision-making, Johnson said anything above 70% completion rate should be considered a low bar on what’s feasible given high performing practices.
“He had a couple throws with guys in his face that he delivered on target that were very tough.” – Ben Johnson
As the Bears prepare for their next game, Williams needs to build off of his early accomplishments. He must course correct on the most egregious accuracy challenges that have plagued him. He showed genuine remorse, a desire to make amends, and a commitment to be better in the future.
“I thought he did a good job evading when he felt pressure and yet there were still some that we would like to have back.” – Ben Johnson
Moving forward, both Williams and Johnson recognize the importance of practice in refining accuracy and decision-making. Johnson noted that achieving a completion rate above 70% should be a realistic goal based on practice performance.
“You would like to think that over the course of practice that we’re completing 70% or more, or that’s hard to just magically arise in a game,” – Ben Johnson
As the Bears prepare for their next matchup, it remains crucial for Williams to build on his initial success while addressing the accuracy challenges that have plagued him. He expressed determination to correct his mistakes and improve moving forward.
“That’s something that we practice on, something that we get after and something that I’m going to keep getting after… You miss and you move on. You correct and you find ways to get better.” – Caleb Williams
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