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Reacting to the Bears 30-24 win over the Patriots | After The Whistle
The Bears held off the Patriots in a battle between two marquee, young, star quarterbacks. Cassie Carlson, Sam Panayotovic, Anthony Herron and Matt Spiegel react to the Bears' win.
Perspective on quarterbacks has never been that much fun for the Chicago Bears.
In 2022, Justin Fields, their starting quarterback at the time, was 32nd among 32 qualified quarterbacks with 32nd among 32 qualifying quarterbacks with 16.8 attempts per game, a 50.7 completion percentage, 117.8 passing yards per game, a 6.0 interception percentage and a 58.7 passer rating.
In 2024, the Bears allowed the most sacks in a single NFL season while the quarterback they passed on to draft Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, was playing in the NFC Championship Game.
There’s so much more. Not much of it has been kind.
That’s why it’s notable when the perspective is different in 2026. There was plenty of that on Thursday night as Williams led the Bears to a 30-24 win over the Patriots.
It’s the kind of perspective that leads you to believe Williams is the best quarterback in his class.
He’s the kind of quarterback who gets into primetime duels the league marvels over.
The backstory:
The Bears went through two large quarterback classes. In 2021, they drafted Fields as the fourth quarterback off the board in a class that included Trevor Lawrence, Trey Lance and Zach Wilson.
In 2024, the Bears had the first choice. They took Williams over Daniels, Drake Maye, Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr. and JJ McCarthy.
On Thursday night, Williams out dueled Maye just four days after he won a game over Penix. He had already beaten McCarthy and Daniels. He has yet to play a game against Nix.
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In that Thursday night game, Williams got his win over Maye with two notable 21-yard completions to Rome Odunze.
Williams ended the game completing 22 of his 33 passes for for 308 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 116.7 and a completion percentage of 67.7 percent.
"It's a great stat line, and yet I can't wait to sit down with him and go through this line-by-line because there's still a lot more out there for us," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "That's the encouraging part to me when I watch tape like this."
The tape is for improvement. The stats bring their own story.
The post game notes from the Bears mentioned that Williams’ 308-yard day tied for the most 300-yard passing games by a quarterback in their first three seasons in Bears history. He’s tied with Mitchell Trubisky.
His performances on Sunday and Thursday mark the first time since 2018 that a Bears quarterback recorded back-to-back games with 300+ passing yards.
Williams didn’t throw an interception. He tied himself with Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts for the most games without a pick thrown in the NFL over the past three seasons.
Williams' 70.9 completion percentage on the season now sits second in the NFL among qualified passers, behind only Joe Burrow.
So far this season, the Eagles and Cardinals both have nine completions of 20+ yards or more on the entire season. This is just an example of the quarterback Williams has become under Johnson and as a pro. It’s becoming a marvel.
Caleb Williams had eight completions 20 yards or more against the Patriots on Thursday night. Part of it was the skill Williams has. The other side is taking that skill and matching the quarterback on the opposite sideline. That was Maye in this instance.
"That’s a great quarterback, he's been a great quarterback for years," Williams said. "When that happens, you want to go out there, let's go get one. Let's put the score back up. Let's match that from there. And I think we did just that."
Grading the Chicago Bears vs. the New England Patriots
Here’s how we graded the Bears against the Patriots on Thursday Night Football.
Big picture view:
Primetime games have always been better with two high-profile quarterbacks slinging the rock.
The 2000s were highlighted by Manning vs. Brady. The 2010s had Flacco vs. Roethlisberger and Brees vs. Ryan. Even the 1990s had Aikman vs. Young and Kelly vs. Marino.
The 2020s have given us Allen vs. Mahomes. Maye vs. Williams could be the next type of primetime showdown football fans look forward to.
"I love a challenge and I love just the anxiousness, the pressure situations," Maye said after the game. "I think there's nothing like that in life."
The perspective here isn’t that Williams isn’t one of the best we’ve seen in a decade, though. He’s got a lot to learn and more to earn.
"He has certainly sped up," Johnson said. "He's gone through the progressions a little bit quicker in my viewpoint, which is a good thing."
The perspective is the Bears have a must-see quarterback. They have a guy who makes throws other teams marvel at.
The Bears were always watching from the other perspective before, wanting a player who could make those plays. They have him now. They made the right choice. Williams keeps getting better, too.
Whether you want to see Williams vs. Maye, Daniels or Nix, that’s your prerogative. From my perspective, plenty want to see Williams play those quarterbacks.
He’s the headliner, now.
"These nights are awesome," Williams said.
The Source: Analysis is from FOX Chicago's Chris Kwiecinski, who covers the Bears and the NFL regularly.