The Bears have a starting quarterback who rarely throws interceptions, whose head coach says he’s playing his best football of the season in the thick of a playoff race and who repeatedly has made incredible plays with the game on the line — most recently a long touchdown pass to defeat their archrival.
Sure, Caleb Williams isn’t perfect. But that’s a pretty good start toward becoming a franchise quarterback.
After Williams’ 46-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DJ Moore beat the Packers in overtime Saturday and the Lions lost to the Steelers on Sunday, the Bears clinched a playoff spot. But it’s important to remember this, in itself, isn’t the endgame.
Ben Johnson didn’t take this job to squeak by every week and claw into the postseason. He falls asleep dreaming about blowouts and wakes up plotting to turn Williams into a juggernaut. He came to build a Bears dynasty.
With those ambitions, this always was going to be a transition season. Johnson essentially threw out everything Williams was taught under predecessor Matt Eberflus — ‘‘There really isn’t a ton of carryover,’’ he said in July — and has sought to rewire him. Building a quarterback from the ground up takes time.
When Packers quarterback Jordan Love stepped into the starting job in 2023, for example, everything clicked for him about halfway through that season. Unlike Williams, however, Love was in his third season in head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.
The longer Williams works with Johnson, the more likely the little things will snap into place for him. That eventually should show up in his completion percentage, which still is problematic at 57.8, the second-worst in the league among qualifying quarterbacks.
Everything in the Bears’ offense is about timing and precision, and good quarterbacking performances are built on a lot of slants and screen passes that lead receivers into open space. Those games jump from good to great when a quarterback adds a handful of spectacular plays.
Williams needs to improve the simple but specializes in the spectacular. That’s easier to work with than the opposite.
For now, the Bears have a quarterback trying to find his way in the basics while offsetting some of those struggles by showing up in the biggest moments.
Williams began the game Saturday 9-for-21 for 132 yards (64 passer rating), then completed 10 of 13 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns (143.3) in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.
‘‘He always makes plays when needed,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘He’s clutch like that. He always keeps a level head. He understands the situation so, so well.’’
It’s especially encouraging for the Bears, given that Williams is doing that in the most pressure-packed games. Every game is crucial as the Bears battle for playoff seeding, and the actual postseason experience will be even more valuable.
Williams has said the goal is to play so well that late-game heroics aren’t required, but this will do for now. It’s hard to complain about anything when the Bears are 11-4 and vying for more as they finish the season at the 49ers and at home against the Lions.
Williams’ talent makes him capable of turning a game around at any point. He similarly got off to frustrating starts against the Raiders, Commanders, Bengals and Giants before catching fire at the end.
In rallying the Bears from a 16-6 deficit with less than six minutes left to a 22-16 victory, Williams picked up his sixth fourth-quarter comeback victory of the season. That matches Peyton Manning (1999) for most in a season by a quarterback younger than 25.
For the season, Williams has averaged 6.6 yards per pass and posted an 87.5 passer rating in the first three quarters of games. In the fourth quarter and overtime, those numbers are 7.7 and 95.7, respectively.
In Year 2 with Williams, the question isn’t whether this is good enough but whether it signals strongly that he’s on his way to becoming a quarterback who can win a championship.
The upside for the Bears is that they’ve paired high-end talent in Williams with high-end coaching from Johnson. Johnson said recently that much of the basis for his bright outlook on Williams’ future is how well he accepts coaching, and Williams knows he finally is getting the expertise he needs after playing for Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron as a rookie.
It helps to have an upgraded offensive line, but Williams also is playing in an offense that seems to scheme receivers open constantly. Every time he drops back to pass, he’s certain to have options.
‘‘I’ve got the best coach in the world,’’ Williams said.
That’s the right thing to say, but it also seemed genuine.
Williams defended Eberflus when Eberflus was under fire, but he never went nearly that far. Keep in mind, too, that as he has raved about Johnson in the last several months, Johnson has been coaching him relentlessly hard. But Williams can handle Johnson hammering every mistake because he knows it’s necessary for him to grow.
It has been a successful combination for the Bears so far. But as exciting as this season has been, it’s theoretically only the beginning.
