Caleb Williams Week 7 QB Grade: Patriots @ Bears Film Breakdown

Well, I guess we can put the "checkdown merchant" conversation to bed for at least a week. Last week, I spent quite a bit of time discussing Caleb Williams' unusually low aDOT against Atlanta and why the context behind it mattered. The Falcons committed to keeping two safeties high, Williams consistently took what they gave him, and the result was 305 yards while completing a ridiculous 83.3% of his passes. Four days later, New England presented a completely different challenge, and Williams responded with a completely different type of game. On a short week against a Patriots team that entered Soldier Field at 4-2, Williams completed 22 of 33 passes for 308 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, finishing with a 116.7 passer rating as Chicago held on for a 30-24 victory. It marked the first time in Williams' career that he topped 300 passing yards in consecutive games, and he became the first Bears quarterback to accomplish that since Mitchell Trubisky did it in three straight games back in 2018. Unlike Atlanta, though, this wasn't built around repeatedly taking the underneath completion. Williams finished with eight completions of at least 20 yards against New England. Syed Schemes highlighted just how explosive the passing game became Thursday night, with Williams connecting on four such plays to Luther Burden III, three to Rome Odunze and another to Colston Loveland. One week after we were apparently supposed to be worried about his willingness to push the football downfield, Williams produced eight explosive completions. Funny how quickly that changed.