Caleb Williams is the first rookie quarterback in Chicago Bears history to throw for over 3,000 yards in a season.
In Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, Williams became the first-ever Chicago Bears rookie quarterback to achieve this accolade. The first year in Williams’ career has certainly not gone according to plan, but hitting statistical marks like these are always important for fans to look out for.
Not only is the USC product the first rookie to hit the 3,000-yard mark in franchise history, but he is nearing the top-five mark for most passing yards by any Chicago Bears signal caller in a single season.
The season has been a rough one for Williams and the rest of the Chicago Bears squad. The Sunday loss at home against the Lions is their ninth straight defeat, moving them to 4-11 on the campaign. In his first NFL season, the number one overall pick went through two different play-callers and was already on his second head coach following the firing of Matt Eberflus.
In his first 15 games at the NFL level, Williams has thrown for over 300 yards four different times. The most touchdown passes he has posted in a contest came overseas in the 35-16 victory against Jacksonville on Oct. 13, which happens to be the last time the Chicago Bears won a game.
One of the biggest things that Williams continues to receive praise on is his limited interception numbers this year. The Jacksonville game is the last time he threw a pick, and is ahead of his rookie counterparts across the league in the least amount of interceptions thrown category.
Williams ability to persevere through these tough circumstances in year one has led to high praise from some of the top coaching candidates in the upcoming hiring cycle. It was even reported further on Sunday morning that Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is very interested in the Chicago Bears coaching vacancy.
It’s easy to see why Johnson and other candidates are interested in the opening when a budding superstar like Williams is performing the way he is with little success around him. While things don’t look bright right now, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the franchise’s future when Williams continues to knock off achievements on a weekly basis.
Caleb Williams’ impressive effort on Sunday was not enough for the Chicago Bears to defeat Detroit at home
Williams continued to show the league what he is capable of on Sunday in yet another Chicago Bears loss. In the 34-17 defeat against the Lions, Williams eclipsed 300 yards in the air and finished with a 65% completion percentage. He threw for two touchdowns in front of the Solider Field faithful, making it the eighth time this season that the rookie has collected multiple touchdown passes in a game.
A big theme for the Chicago Bears offense throughout the season and especially the losing streak has been growth. Williams was asked about this in his post-game press conference today and he was very adamant about the fact that this unit is growing week to week. However, he acknowledges that the ups and downs are still there.
“You obviously can see the growth,” Williams said. “Throughout this whole season the growth that I’ve had and the growth that we’ve had on offense and being able to fight through what’s been going down for us of coaches being fired in the middle of the season and diffrent coaches being promoted in different ways. Obviously there has been growth, but today wasn’t about us growing in a sense, we did a lot of things good but we also did a lot of things bad”
That’s just how the season has gone for the Chicago Bears. The good is easy to see if you look hard enough, but the bad has been there on a much more consistent basis. The team has just two more contests before a huge offseason will commence. A shortened week has the Chicago Bears back at Solider Field on Thursday night for the last home game of the campaign against the Seattle Seahawks.
