Chris Simms pushes back on this one glaring Caleb Williams criticism
· Yahoo Sports
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams made impressive strides in his second season and first with head coach Ben Johnson, and it's clear the future is bright for the young playmaker.
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Following a rough rookie campaign amid chaos, Williams showcased his potential during a 2025 season where he led the Bears to an NFC North title and the team's first playoff win in 15 years while setting the franchise record for passing yards in a single season (3,942), falling just short of the 4,000-yard mark.
But, more than anything, Williams brought excitement to the field every week -- especially in the winding moments of the fourth quarter, where he earned the moniker "Iceman" for his clutch ability. Williams set an NFL record with seven fourth-quarter comebacks (including regular season and postseason), including in Chicago's thrilling wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers.
This week at Radio Row at the Super Bowl, NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms discussed Williams' impressive first year with Johnson, calling Williams a "super star" while also pushing back at critics regarding one aspect of the second-year QB's play.
"With Caleb Williams, how can you not be amazed at what we just saw," Simms said, via CHGO. "Caleb Williams is a super star. There's only a few people in the sport that can do what Caleb Williams does. Please stop with the stupid completion percentage crap. Because I know we want that, but this isn't in 2008 anymore. It's a different league. It's about making plays and changing field position and explosive plays. That to me is where he's special, and the other stuff is coming as we all saw. He's just going to get better and better in the pocket as, I always say, Ben Johnson rewires a robot."
Williams had a 58.1 completion percentage, which was worse than his rookie season, but numbers don't tell the whole story. While Williams fell well short of the 70% completion that Johnson wants, he made up for it with his sensational play and ability to lead his team to wins even under the most grim of circumstances.
As Simms said, the NFL has changed immensely in the last 20 years, where we're seeing young, playmaking quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and even Williams light the league on fire with their raw talent and ability.
As for the stuff Williams needs to focus on, most notably hitting on those short, easy passes, that will be cleaned up as he continues to work with Johnson and refine his game. We haven't even seen the ceiling of Williams' potential, which is the most exciting thing, especially knowing the Bears have their head coach-quarterback duo in place for the foreseeable future.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Chris Simms reacts to Caleb Williams' completion percentage criticism