NFL analyst makes wild Jordan Love vs Caleb Williams claim, and it proves who the real underrated QB in the NFC North is

It's realistic to think that Caleb Williams will eventually be a better quarterback than Jordan Love. After all, the Chicago Bears quarterback was a higher-touted prospect coming out of college, he has a high-ceiling profile, and the coaching situation during his rookie season was bad. It's not necessarily the right opinion, but there is a […]

Wendell Ferreira — NFL News Writer

Jun 30, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

It's realistic to think that Caleb Williams will eventually be a better quarterback than Jordan Love. After all, the Chicago Bears quarterback was a higher-touted prospect coming out of college, he has a high-ceiling profile, and the coaching situation during his rookie season was bad. It's not necessarily the right opinion, but there is a fair argument to make around it.

However, Fox analyst Danny Parkins went a step further. During an appearance on First Things First on Friday, he said that Williams is already better than Love, mentioning raw interception and completion percentage

"How about this? Caleb Williams already better than Jordan Love. How about that? Ok, I'm sorry, but it's true. Jordan Love has played the majority of two seasons, right? Both of those seasons, double-digit interceptions, eleven interceptions each of those seasons. Caleb Williams played 17 games last season, he had six. Caleb Williams' offensive coordinator was fired nine games into his rookie year with the worst offensive line in the league, and they fired his head coach three weeks after they fired his offensive coordinator, because the head coach didn't know he could call timeouts. Jordan Love has Matt LaFleur, of the Sean McVay tree. Jordan Love, the unbelievable ceiling, had a 63% completion percentage last year." — Danny Parkins.

Yes, I know the hot take culture is what it is, and television personalities have to disagree on the shows to generate discussion. They want engagement, and we are giving them exactly what they want. But this is a step too far, and it's important to show what the situation truly looks like.

If you cherry pick stats, it will always be possible to find something to argue and compare anyone. But first, even the stats that Parkins selected are misguided. Love still had a higher completion percentage (63.1) than Williams (62.5). Yes, Williams had fewer interceptions in 2024, but that's because he avoided risks and took an absurd amount of sacks. Even then, though, Love's career turnover-worthy play rate is 2.9, while Williams' is 2.6. It's not a huge difference to begin with.

Regarding the environment, by the way, it's relevant to point out that a year ago, a significant portion of the NFL community thought the Bears offered Williams the best situation ever for a first overall pick. The offensive line was something between above average to slightly below average by most reliable metrics, and the quarterback made it look worse.

Real stats show who was better

Checking the stats that really matter to isolate and measure quarterback play, Love was evidently better. Not in one or two, but in all of them. Among quarterbacks who played at least 50% of their team's snaps, Williams only graded higher than Will Levis by PFF.

You can see why Williams threw fewer picks: He made much shorter throws and took sacks to avoid bad throws—it was a historically bad season in this regard for the rookie. While Love has an elite 8.9 pressure to sack ratio, Williams' was 28.2. Both quarterbacks had the exact same 2.4 pocket time in 2024 (average time between snap and throw/pressure).

Checking other advanced stats, it's not close—even disregarding Love's injuries throughout the year.

It's ok to think that Caleb Williams will improve, maybe to expect that he will become a top quarterback in football. It's fair to wait 30, 40 games to make a definitive statement about what a player is in the NFL. That's an opinion.

But facts are facts. And there's more than enough evidence to assure that, to this point, Jordan Love has been much better—and should receive more credit for what he has done with a questionable at best receiving core.

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