It’s admirable and prudent of the Bears’ Caleb Williams not to concern himself with the other rookies’ progress, and he’s not consumed by the weekly quarterback showdowns. He has more than enough to occupy him with his own development.
Drama is high when the No. 1 pick takes on a star like the Texans’ C.J. Stroud or a veteran he has emulated like the Rams’ Matt Stafford, but they’re never on the field at the same time.
There is an indirect one-on-one, though, because Williams must keep up with whoever is on the other side and whichever quarterback plays better typically wins. When he comes back from the bye week, he’ll tangle with No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels of the Commanders on Oct. 27, then see 2019 No. 1 pick Kyler Murray of the Cardinals and face No. 3 pick Drake Maye of the Patriots.
Any Bears-Commanders matchup usually is a snoozer, but this time it’s huge. They’re both 4-2, Daniels has been out in front of Williams and Williams, from Washington, D.C., is going back home for a game for the first time since he starred at Gonzaga College High.
The Bears don’t seem worried about him getting caught up in any of that.
General manager Ryan Poles credited Williams last week for choosing to “run his own race” rather than keep an eye on Daniels, and coach Matt Eberflus said Monday he’s seen an all-business approach from Williams since he met him in February.
“I don’t know if there will be a lot of outside noise going home… but we’re playing the Washington Commanders and that’s what it’s going to be all about,” he said.
“The way he’s prepared going into it, from Week 1 all the way to Week 6 — he’s proven that he’s gotten better every single week. We’re trying to keep doing that.”
Williams is fresh off shredding the Jaguars for a 35-16 win in London on Sunday in which he completed 79.3% of his passes, threw for 226 yards and dropped four touchdown passes, had one interception and ran four times for 56 yards. His 124.4 passer rating gave him three consecutive games over 100, a first in franchise history for a rookie.
His hot streak has gained him ground on Daniels, too.
He’s fourth in the NFL and first among rookies with a 107.1 passer rating, well ahead of Williams at 88.7, but Williams has narrowed the gap in yards per game (Daniels is up 234 to 219.5) and overtaken him in touchdown passes with nine to Daniels’ six.
“The human side of it is you want your guy to just take off and roll, but everyone’s journey is going to be different,” Poles said. “[Williams] has done well just focusing on, ‘How can I get better and how can I put our team in a position to win games?’”
Williams’ upcoming stretch against Daniels, Murray and Maye leads up to a sizable shift in difficulty in the Bears’ schedule. Their final eight weeks include all of their divisional games, a visit to the reigning NFC champion 49ers and a game on short rest against the ever-sturdy Seahawks.
Every team Williams will see from Week 11 through the end of the season currently is .500 or better and all but one has a pass defense in the top half of the NFL in opponent passer rating and a starting quarterback in the top half in passer rating.
It’ll be tougher for his defense to give him the same margin he has enjoyed so far with no opponent scoring more than 21 points in a game against the Bears. It’ll be tough to avoid and compensate for mistakes against better defenses and sharper coaches.
Williams has made a nice jump the last three weeks, but there’s a leap in competition after the break.