‘He is going to be unstoppable’ — Caleb Williams dominates Super Bowl week chatter in a big way and it’s getting impossible to ignore
Caleb Williams has arrived but he’s only scratching the surface of what he can achieve in the NFL.
The Chicago Bears were hoping for a different feeling during Super Bowl week and expected to be the NFC representative set to play in the big game on Sunday. Instead, Chicago’s magical season was abruptly ended in the divisional round of the playoffs but it’s far from the end for this team.
Despite the outcome falling short of internal expectations, the Bears proved they have the two things needed to establish themselves as a team that can sustain this level of success for a long time with head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams.
While the Bears won’t be playing on Sunday, they still dominated the chatter throughout Super Bowl week because people are aware of where this team is going and Williams is a major reason why.
Caleb Williams is starting to gain a lot more believers after his sophomore season
The rookie season for Caleb Williams was a frustrating experience and lead to a lot of unfair criticism. After his second season, and first year under Johnson, the tone has switched up in a major way. It still wasn’t perfect, but the rays of a future star finally started to shine through in his game.
“I thought Caleb made some big-time improvements,” NBC analyst Tony Dungy said this week, via CHGO. “And I think he’s still got a little ways to go. He’s making the spectacular plays, and I think Ben is getting him to make those ordinary plays more consistently. And when he does that — and he’s making those ordinary plays at a 90 percent pitch — and then can give you that fourth-down unbelievable rainbow, then he is going to be unstoppable.”
Dungy’s assessment of Williams’ season is fair. At times, Williams looked like the most clutch quarterback in the league for his late game heroics and the superstar-caliber plays he was making in gotta-have-it situations. Every week it seemed like we were waiting on the next great moment.
“You expect something out of Caleb that we haven’t seen yet,” NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth explained. “But it’s like, how many more times? And I go, come on, it can’t just keep happening… there are some people that have that pixie dust, who have the ability to create something special.”
But, on a down-to-down basis and from an efficiency standpoint, there was something missing in Williams’ game that kept him a level below the top quarterbacks in the league such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Matthew Stafford. To reach that stratosphere, Williams needs to get better at hitting his layups, being accurate, and keeping the offense on schedule. But, he’s already proved he can flip that switch that can’t be taught, and that others simply can’t, when it matters most.
“Caleb Williams is a super star,” NBS analyst Chris Simms said. “There’s only a few people in the sport that can do what Caleb Williams does. Please stop with the stupid completion percentage crap. Because I know we want that, but this isn’t in 2008 anymore. It’s a different league. It’s about making plays and changing field position and explosive plays. That to me is where he’s special, and the other stuff is coming as we all saw.”
Where does Caleb Williams go from here is the real question?
The answer to that question is obvious based on all the praises Williams received throughout the week. There’s no doubt this kid is special in critical situations but how can Williams get to the point where the special happens on a routine basis?
“I think Coach is going to challenge him to be even more efficient,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said. “Not only with just the operation but completions. I think when you have special playmaking traits and you lean onto mobility and escapability, I think sometimes you don’t take the easy throw. Taking what’s given to you, moving onto the next down, staying ahead of the chains and being more efficient overall, I think that’s what he’s going to challenge him on doing. As well as becoming a leader, a little bit more vocal, he was learning so much, he was in the fire, I think as he grows as a young quarterback, I think the leadership will continue to grow, too.”
For now, Johnson’s challenge was for Williams to get away from the building and take a break from football after how draining this season turned out to be, both mentally and physically. But, when it comes time to return and reset, Williams understands where he fell short and what he needs to do to improve.
If those subtle improvements come after another full offseason working with Johnson, we’ll be talking about Williams as one of the top quarterbacks in the league and potentially looking forward to seeing this team play on the biggest stage of all.
Chicago Bears News
Bears HC Ben Johnson misses out on an award he had a strong case for, but avoids a curse that’s doomed other head coaches
Ben Johnson not winning Coach of the Year might not be a bad thing.
