Caleb Williams had the best rookie season a Chicago Bears quarterback has ever produced. It’s not even close. He finished with 3500 yards, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions for an 87.8 passer rating. Nobody says that is great, but it’s certainly not enough to justify the criticism he’s received all offseason. Much of it comes from former quarterbacks. Boomer Esiason, J.T. O’Sullivan, Chase Daniel, and Kurt Warner have all taken their chances to criticize him. That number grew this past week.
Former Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck led the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl in the 2000s. He is a notable authority on the position. During an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, he was asked about Williams. The man didn’t hold back, stating two key issues with the Bears’ young quarterback that can’t be overlooked.
“Sacks hurt your team. They hurt your offensive line, they hurt morale, they hurt your body, but it’s also very bad on the defense… I thought if we were assigning blame to why there were so many sacks last year in Chicago, the majority of the sacks were not the fault of the offensive line. They were the fault of the young quarterback.”
If that weren’t enough, Hasselbeck also questioned Williams’ leadership ability. He isn’t sure the former #1 pick has the maturity to deal with the ups and downs of an NFL season.
“Number two for me would probably be overall leadership. We’re looking at you. I mentioned body language. That bothers me. That really bothered me how he handled that last year.”
Caleb Williams suffers from the unfair reality of modern football.
There once was a time in the NFL when rookie quarterbacks were allowed to make mistakes and learn. They didn’t have to be stars right out of the gate. That has changed over the past two decades. Great rookie seasons from guys like Matt Ryan, Andrew Luck, Justin Herbert, C.J. Stroud, and Jayden Daniels have skewed the expectations. Now, if you don’t succeed immediately, you’re already in bust territory. Never mind that Caleb Williams was thrown to the wolves in a nonsensical offense under an overmatched coaching staff behind an offensive line that was never healthy.
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Yes, he deserves criticism for holding the ball too long. It is something he needs to work on. Here’s something to keep in mind. The most times Hasselbeck was ever sacked in a season was 42. He spent most of his career playing for Hall of Fame head coaches, too, like Mike Holmgren and Pete Carroll. Maybe he should cut the kid some slack.
