GREEN BAY, Wis. — Caleb Williams grew up wanting to be Aaron Rodgers.
Sunday, in his old stadium, he did what Rodgers used to do best. Needing to drive the Bears into field goal range with 48 seconds to play to beat the rival Packers, the rookie quarterback led the Bears 47 yards and Cairo Santos boomed a 51-yard field goal to win 24-22 as time expired. The Bears snapped their 10-game losing streak and finished the season 5-12. They ended an 11-game losing skid against the Packers.
Bears quarterbacks are measured by what they do against the Packers. In his first game at Lambeau Field, Williams measured up when it mattered.
“It’s a wonderful stadium — I know Bears fans probably won’t want to hear that,” Williams said as Rodgers, clad in a green Jets uniform, played on a television over his shoulder. “I grew up an Aaron Rodgers fan, and then being able to actually be here and come out with the win. Being able to be here and play on this field, being able to be here and see the history between the Bears and Green Bay and come out with the win the way we did, it was great. It was awesome. Great moment. And can’t wait to keep growing and keep having more of those moments.”
The Bears have a long way to go to expect to have more moments like Sunday’s. And even their win came with an asterisk — Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love exited in the second quarter with an elbow injury, and standout receiver Christian Watson was ruled out with a non-contact knee injury he suffered in the same period.
Williams spent most of Sunday throwing screens, completing 21-of-29 passes for only 148 yards and a 95.2 passer rating. The way the Bears won the game, though, gives some hope for the future.
Trailing by one, the Bears faced third-and-11 from their 49-yard line with 15 seconds to play. In the huddle, Williams looked to receiver DJ Moore — who’d fumbled a screen pass with about two minutes to play to set up the Packers’ 55-yard field goal — and told him what route he wanted. If the Packers pressed him, Moore would run a vertical route. If they played to Moore’s outside leverage, Williams would throw a “glance” route — a five-step skinny post. He did the latter for 18 yards and ran to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball with two seconds to play.
After a season’s worth of clock management gaffes, the Bears finally got one right.
“It was amazing,” Moore said. “He stayed calm, cool, collected and had us rolling.”
Santos drilled the field goal to beat the same team that blocked his potential game-winner in November.
“Everything that I’ve gone through the weeks following that,” Santos said, “it gave me strength to be ready for a moment like this.“
Williams was never the set-it-and-forget-it quarterback the Bears hoped he’d become when they drafted him first overall and surrounded him with what they thought was unprecedented skill-position talent. Only two players in NFL history have been sacked more than the 68 Williams took this season. He was sacked just once Sunday, on the first play of the game, when he fumbled a shotgun snap.
Williams proved durable nonetheless, becoming the first Bears quarterback in 15 years to make every start. He threw for 3,541 yards, the fifth-most in franchise history. Williams set a rookie record for most passes without an interception and finished the season having thrown just six picks. In NFL history, only three rookie quarterbacks to make at least 13 starts have thrown fewer.
Still, something felt missing. The Bears’ offense was so dysfunctional that Matt Eberflus fired coordinator Shane Waldron after just nine games. Eberflus himself was fired after 12. Williams played for three different offensive coordinators. That level of failure doesn’t happen without Williams being complicit in the team’s struggles.
Williams is by far will the most attractive part of the Bears’ vacant head coaching job. The Bears will begin sending out interview requests on Monday and will spend the next two weeks holding virtual meetings. They can’t meet in-person with coaches who work for NFL teams until Jan. 20.
Whomever the Bears hire will have to first lay out a plan detailing how to make Williams better. He has a long way to go.
At the least, the Bears can put on film of Williams’ final completion of the season and dream.
“He’s got a killer instinct,” interim head coach Thomas Brown said. “He’s really probably better in those moments than he is in regular downs and distances. There’s a gap to be bridged when it comes to that. … He thrives in those moments.”
