Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams continues to re-write the record books in what is becoming an otherwise forgettable season for the Chicago Bears.
The Athleticโs Kevin Fishbain dug up this gem on Sunday night:
I did not have Caleb Williams breaking the record for most starts without an interception on my 2024 Bears BINGO card. Heck, I didnโt even know that record existed until I saw the tweet from Fishbain. Let me take it a step further and admit that I would have never guessed that Charlie Batch held that record. Sorting through this factoid reminds me that one of my favorite parts about my job as a Bears writer is that Iโm in a position to learn something new every day.
Chicagoโs QB1 has gone seven consecutive games without throwing an interception. Without having any other context, I find it to be a nifty stat. This is what Caleb Williamsโ numbers look like during this stretch:
- 140/235 (59.6 completion pct.)
- 1,429 pass yards (6.1 yards/attempt)
- 7 touchdowns
- 87.0 passer rating
If you were to extrapolate them over a full 17-game season, they would come out to 3,470 pass yards and 17 touchdowns. Those numbers on their own are โฆ fine. I donโt want to make too much of them, but I donโt want to completely ignore them either. Anecdotally, I feel as if the rookie quarterback is doing a good job right now creating a risk-reward ratio as a processor โ which feels like an important part of the developmental process. Once he gets comfortable in that area, I would like to see Williams push the ball a little more (even if it comes with risk) down the stretch.
As Patrick pointed out in his Bears Bits earlier, this team โ while not mathematically eliminated โ is cooked. Their postseason aspirations are nothing more than a faint memory at this point. So with the Bearsโ playoff odds (via The Athletic) sitting at less than 1 percent, to say this team has nothing left to lose feels like an understatement. But with that in mind, I am all in on the idea that everyone on the team should start playing like it โ starting with QB1.
Caleb Williamsโ rookie year stats
Here is the latest from the numbers department
These are Caleb Williamsโ stats through the first 13 games of his rookie season:
- 270/434 (62.2%)
- 2,746 yards (6.3 yards/attempt)
- 16 TD, 5 INT
- 87.8 passer rating
These are his stats pro-rated over a full 17-game schedule:
- 353/568
- 3,591 yards
- 21 TD, 7 INT
- 3.7 TD%, 1.2 INT%
How would you feel had you been given that stat line before the season started? Without any context, Iโd hope that I would see these numbers as a safe baseline to build on moving forward. Because while I would like to see that TD% tick up, that low INT% is relatively comforting. All things considered, Caleb Williams’ development is looking like a silver lining in a dark cloud of a season.
These are QB1โs numbers since Thomas Brown took over play-calling:
- 92/140 (65.7%)
- 961 yards (6.9 yards/attempt)
- 7 TD, 0 INT
- 102.1 passer rating
And this is what a 17-game season would look like if Caleb played at that pace:
- 391/595
- 4,084 yards
- 30 TD, 0 INT
- 102.1 rating
That 30-0 TD-INT ratio is probably unsustainable. I say probably unsustainable because who’s to say it isn’t? Heck, Nick Foles had a 27-2 TD-INT ratio in 2013. Anything is possible, even if not everything is probable. Circling back to Caleb Williams, those pro-rated 17-game numbers are fun to look at during a time when there isnโt much fun to be had while discussing Chicago Bears football.
In the end, I find myself in a place I know all too well โ rooting for a rookie quarterbackโs development in the face of self-made adversity by a franchise that has operated in chaos for quite some time. Sigh. Here we go again.