The 2025 season is almost halfway in the books, and while it’s far too early to make determinations about what kind of quarterback Caleb Williams is, it’s absolutely fair to start asking questions — especially after his ugly Week 8 showing against the Baltimore Ravens.
In the Bears‘ 30-16 loss to the Ravens, Williams finished 25-of-38 for 285 yards and an interception. It was his second straight game without a touchdown pass.
But Williams had two intentional-grounding penalties that also stood out. One occurred at the end of the first half, and it forced a rushed — and missed — 58-yard field-goal attempt from Cairo Santos.
The other stalled a promising drive later in the game. Overall, Chicago was flagged 11 times for 79 yards, but it was Williams’ intentional grounding flags that had head coach Ben Johnson peeved after the game.
Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson Calls Out QB Caleb Williams for Intentional Grounding Penalties vs. Ravens
GettyHead coach Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears called out QB Caleb Williams for his intentional grounding penalties vs. the Ravens.
When he was asked about his team’s closing series to end the first half, the Bears coach was candid, mentioning Williams’ grounding flags multiple times.
âI thought we had a chance there for points before half. We had a good opportunity to do that,” Johnson said after the game.
“The intentional grounding certainly didnât help. So now, we were in a position [where it was] third-and-long with no timeouts, where we know if it is a clock running, and we are short of the line of gain, that we will need to get our hurricane unit out there, our field goal team out there, really quick. I thought the execution of all that was nice, but that is a really long field goal. Itâs a low percentage deal. [Itâs] something that we would like to avoid. That intentional grounding certainly hurt us.â
Johnson was also asked about the interception Caleb threw. “I didnât quite see it,” he replied. “I will have to check it out on film just one more time. In my mind, there might have been another option that we could have gotten to.â
A Look at Williams vs. the Other QBs in His Draft Class
Through Week 8, Williams has thrown for 1,636 passing yards, nine touchdowns fou interceptions and a 52.9 QBR.
When you compare his stats to those of his 2024 draft classmates,it’s not looking great:
- Drake Maye (Patriots): 2,026 yards, 15 TDs, 3 INTs, 76.2 QBR
- Bo Nix (Broncos): 1,803 yards, 15 TDs, 5 INTs, 58.7 QBR
- Jayden Daniels (Commanders): 1,031 yards, 8 TDs, 1 INT, 50.9 QBR
- Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons): 1,409 yards, 5 TDs, 3 INTs, 49.1 QBR
Placed alongside them, Williams is somewhere in the middle â not lagging far behind Penix or Daniels, but a step below Maye and Nix in overall command and control.
Williams has shown some definite growth this year — he’s taking far less sacks and has generally played well on third down and late in the fourth quarter — but it just doesn’t look as though he’s seeing the field yet, and — stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Bears fans — he’s having trouble reading defenses.
What Williams Had to Say After the Game
For his part, Williams explained his perspective on his first intentional grounding call before the half.
“The intentional grounding, we just weren’t on the same page with [Colston] Loveland,”
Williams said.
“I was throwing him breaking out. It was a choice route. This isnât anything about Loveland; we just werenât on the same page. Itâs a choice route. He has a couple different options to break, break in, sit or break out, and we just werenât on the same page. That comes with reps, so I think thatâs what it comes down to. I could have gotten out of bounds also, [if] we want to talk about managing things like that; thatâs part of it.”
Perhaps the execution will come. There’s a lot of football left to be played this season. But if Williams continues to make these same mistakes further down the road, it’s not going to be pretty in the Windy City.
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