NFL Scout Says Caleb Williams' Play Makes It 'Hard to Win Games' After Bears' Loss

After the Chicago Bears had their four-game win streak snapped in Sunday's 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, some around the league are questioning the development of second-year quarterback Caleb Williams.

Through his first seven games under first-year head coach Ben Johnson, Williams still leads the NFL with an average time to throw of 3.06 seconds. The Athletic's Mike Sando reported that this "calls into question his ability to play on time consistently," and others around the league have started to take notice.

"I have not seen a ton of improvement from Caleb Williams," an evaluator from another team told Sando. "I see a guy reluctant to fall into the confines of a system, who has a big arm and enough athletic ability to exploit coverage with his legs. You get the flash plays, but you get the frustration with the inconsistency. It's hard to win games when you play like that."

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Williams completed 25 of his 38 passes for 285 yards, no touchdowns and a crushing interception deep in Chicago territory that allowed Baltimore to pull away and end its four-game losing streak despite playing without star quarterback Lamar Jackson (hamstring) for the third straight game.

Sando noted that it "was difficult to tell" if Williams was late with his pass on the interception, but coaches who have studied him "say he's still holding the ball too frequently, especially for how coaches think Johnson wants to play." One coach reportedly even studied 40 of his third-down pass plays entering Week 8 and found that only two of the throws he made were "top-tier."

"Is there progress being made with Caleb Williams? Yes," the coach told Sando. "Is it where you want to see it at the moment of truth? No."

ESPN's Courtney Cronin reported that Williams threw eight off-target throws, six of which came in the fourth quarter as the Bears tried to make a comeback. He reportedly has the second-highest off-target throw percentage in the league at 21.5 percent, below only Michael Penix Jr. of the Atlanta Falcons (22 percent).

Any continued struggles by Williams will make pundits start to wonder if the Bears made a mistake by drafting him with the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. He will have the chance to prove his doubters wrong when Chicago (4-3) tries to bounce back in Week 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals (3-5).