Bears quarterback Caleb Williams didn’t have a bad week. Jets quarterback Justin Fields did.
Williams posted a 61.7 passer rating, the fifth-worst of his career, in a 12-point victory against the Saints that gave the Bears their longest winning streak since the end of 2018. Another victory Sunday in Baltimore would give them their longest streak since the same season, which was the last time they won the NFC North.
Those are nice problems to have compared to Fields, who heard Jets owner Woody Johnson trash his performance seven games into a two-year, $40 million contract.
‘‘If we can just complete a pass, it would look good,’’ Johnson said.
Fields handled the public slam with grace, saying that talking with Johnson about it is ‘‘not going to make me play better. It’s not going to give me more confidence on the field.’’
Fields’ week is instructive, not because the Bears love to live in the past (even though they do) but because it’s a reminder that Bears fans have watched their young quarterbacks fail miserably over and over again. Every Williams misstep, then, comes with some concern that fans have seen this movie before. Mitch Trubisky, who came before Fields, now is doing commercials that capitalize on the fact he’s a rarely used backup with the Bills.
The context under which Williams plays isn’t fair to the second-year quarterback, who didn’t ask to get drafted No. 1 overall by the only franchise without a 4,000-yard passer. He seemed to acknowledge that early on, when he and his father fantasized about ways for him to get drafted by another team.
The Bears are an unexpected 4-2. Real staying power, however, won’t come until Williams is the reason they win. That hasn’t happened consistently this season. During the Bears’ four-game winning streak, he has posted passer ratings of 142.6, then 73.3, then 98.6, then 61.7.
More concerning for the Bears is his completion percentage the last four weeks: 68%, followed by 60%, 59% and 58%. The Bears want Williams to complete 70% of his passes.
‘‘Each week’s its own story, and to me it’s always been completion-driven for him,’’ head coach Ben Johnson said. ‘‘And if we get that completion percentage and we’re distributing the football to our playmakers — because we’ve got a number of them — then I think the passer rating and the numbers, they’ll all take care of itself. But we just want to be more efficient. And, hey, if the primary [option] is open, let’s give him a good ball. And if he’s not open, we need to be a little bit quicker and cleaner to [options] No. 2 or No. 3.’’
Williams’ 61.1% completion percentage is 26th among NFL quarterbacks, trailing even that of Fields (63.7%).
‘‘It starts with me,’’ Williams said, ‘‘and then it boils down to me being able to give the wide receivers a good ball, them catching it and creating space for themselves.’’
Williams has said all season that the most difficult part of steering the Bears’ offense is getting it rolling at the start of each drive.
‘‘The shots start coming, the trick plays or the runs, and now we’re creasing keepers and all these different things,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s just being able to get that first first down, and I think a big part of that is just being able to keep the team on the field. I think a lot of it has been [that] sometimes a team drops out on that first down, and it’s, like, ‘OK, here we go. Check down or the quick pass and just get the ball in those guys’ hands.’ ’’
The NFL’s schedule-maker has given Williams a prime opportunity to swing back up Sunday. The Ravens give up 32.2 points per game, the most in the NFL. Only four teams allow more than their 246.7 passing yards per game, and only six give up more than their 134.3 rushing yards.
The Ravens, as synonymous as any franchise this generation for having a stout defense, have given up 37 points or more four times this season. They’ve lost Nnamdi Madubuike, who leads all defensive tackles in sacks since 2023, to a season-ending neck injury. Linebacker Roquan Smith, formerly with the Bears, missed the last two games because of a hamstring injury but will return Sunday.
The Bears are wary, however, particularly with the Ravens coming off a bye. In their first eight games last season, the Ravens gave up the ninth-most points in the NFL. In their last nine games, they gave up the second-fewest.
‘‘I think that’s probably what this bye week has been for them,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘They’ve had a chance to go back and assess where they can put their guys in the right spots. I know it’s going to be a challenge this week. They’ve had some guys dinged up, but that’s the NFL. They still have a lot of really talented players on that side of the ball that have played at a high level for a long time.
‘‘Like I’ve been saying all week long, as an offense, we haven’t really hit our stride yet. We’re still making self-inflicted errors. We’ve gotta play better ourselves.’’