One Area That Caleb Williams Needs to Improve on in 2026
Despite record passing totals, the Chicago star must trade excessive throwaways for precision. Reducing league-high waste will be vital for a deep postseason run in 2026.
Video Transcript
Grant Bricker here for Bears on Roundtable.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had a very solid second season in the NFL.
He threw for 3,142 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
He became the Bears' single-season passing yards leader, surpassing the previous record set by Eric Kramer in 1995.
Although he had a great year, his playoff numbers proved that he still has a lot to learn.
He threw for 618 passing yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
He threw two of those interceptions against the Green Bay Packers in that wild fourth-quarter comeback win in the wild card.
And then he threw three more the following week against the Los Angeles Rams in that overtime loss in the divisional round.
We learned that he has another thing he needs to improve on after a recent appearance on Pardon My Take.
Williams led the NFL with 44 throwaways last season, and he explained why that was.
He shared that he believed it was more advantageous to sometimes throw the ball away on third down because he knew how often his head coach, Ben Johnson, liked to go for it on fourth down.
While it's nice that he has a lot of faith in Johnson's philosophy as a head coach, this is something that is going to need to improve, especially after what quarterbacks coach J.T.
Barrett said earlier this offseason about how Williams doesn't have to work as hard for his money, which basically means that since Williams is so gifted, he doesn't have to make things so hard on himself and have these highlight-level plays every single time if he can just focus on making more winning football plays.
If the Bears can get themselves in better situations where they don't always have to go for it on fourth down, this is absolutely something that Williams needs to improve on.
Throwing the ball away on third down can be a waste of a down and make things harder on the Bears' offense.
We saw numerous times how going for it on fourth down worked well for the Bears, but then we also saw them turn the ball over on downs, even in their own half of the field, which is never a good thing to do.
Hopefully this is something that'll change as Barrett is continuing to work with Williams to improve his skills as a quarterback in the NFL.
