Here’s why Bears seem like they’re wasting potential of Caleb Williams

In last week’s 19-3 home loss to the Patriots, Caleb Williams was not only outplayed by fellow rookie Drake Maye. The Patriots sacked Williams nine times, so often that his teammates apparently forgot to help him up.

Sacks aside, while the play of Williams has dipped sharply over Chicago’s three-game losing streak, head coach Matt Eberflus said Monday that the Bears (4-5) wouldn’t bench Williams similar to decisions made by other teams with young quarterbacks. Eberflus said in-game communication and tactical adjustments need to be better but Williams will start when Chicago hosts Green Bay (6-3) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX). But is Chicago wasting the potential of its No. 1 overall selection?

“Of course they are,” said Danny Parkins on Tuesday’s edition of FS1’s Breakfast Ball. “It’s going very, very, very poorly. By any metric, Jayden Daniels is outplaying him, Bo Nix is outplaying him. Keenan Allen’s having the worst year of his career. DJ Moore is having the worst year of his career.”

Parkins translated Eberflus’ comments as the Bears are planning to demote offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and make Thomas Brown the play-caller, noting the change would give Eberflus a third offensive play-caller, in addition to Luke Getsy. Regardless of whether that happens, Parkins said the Williams sample size isn’t large enough.

“I don’t think anyone should be writing off Caleb Williams,” Parkins added. “It’s nine games, nine games in a situation in which the coaching isn’t good. We can look at other quarterbacks and they had similar statistical struggles and inconsistencies.”

Indeed, Williams is 4-5 with nine touchdown passes and five interceptions through nine games. Josh Allen at the same point in his career was 4-5 with only five touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Kyler Murray was 3-5-1 with nine and four. Joe Burrow was 2-6-1 with 12 and five. What’s alarming, however, is that Williams has been sacked 38 times, much more than any of those others.

Also notable thanks to Daniels and C.J. Stroud in 2023 is the rookie aberration fresh in most people’s minds. Having an outstanding rookie season as a rookie quarterback is not the norm. What’s even more interesting is the pattern Chicago has established over the last seven years in firing a head coach the year after drafting a quarterback in the first round.

The Green Bay game on Sunday kicks off a brutal six-game stretch in which the Bears face each of their NFC North foes along with the 49ers on the road.

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