Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? Sunday brought us A LOT of good film on every QB that played for the Chicago Bears. The offense was in sync against the Buffalo Bills, racking up 500+ yards, 30+ first downs, and 38 points in routing and shutting out the Buffalo Bills. And we finally (and most importantly) got a live look at Caleb Williams under center for Ben Johnson, and it was a good first look. Let’s take a look at the numbers and see what they say.
| SG = Shotgun | UC = Under Center |
| T = Turnover Worthy Play | P = Poor Play |
| B = Bad Play | BA = Below Average Play |
| A = Average Play | AA = Above Average Play |
| G = Good Play | Gr = Great Play |
| E = Elite Play | TA = Throw Away |
| UG = Ungraded | LOS = Pass behind LOS |
| S = Short Pass (1-9 Yards) | M = Medium Pass (10-19 Yards) |
| D = Deep Pass (20+ Yards) | PA = Play Action |
| TTT = Time To Throw | TTP = Time To Pressure |
| TTS = Time To Sack |
Caleb Williams
Caleb Williams starts us off, and started absolutely
on fire with the number 1 offense. While the Bills were playing a majority of second stringers, there’s things we can take away from his two series that generally translate well regardless of competition. On the first drive Williams was on time with his throws, decisive, worked within structure and was accurate. Completing passes of 6, 8, 18, 29, and 36 yards, the latter going for a touchdown to Olamide Zaccheaus. His one incompletion came on a throw that saw him see pressure just 1.82 seconds after the snap. He managed to extend the play and deliver a ball to Zacceaus, however it was underthrown and incomplete. I graded the play “Above Average” for Caleb’s ability to extend a play that a majority of QB’s are dead in the water on. I will note that this is a play I’ve come to almost expect Caleb to make. A play out of structure and a throw on the run. His second drive wasn’t as impressive but we still had some good takes aways. His completion to D. J. Moore on 3rd down was a perfectly thrown Out route that showed fantastic anticipation to move the chains. He also showed some growth from last season, throwing the ball at the feet of Brittain Brown on a screen play that was blown up. In 2024 we saw a lot of uncertainty in those situations for Caleb, where he would try to extend a play that had nothing there. His ability to throw it away and move to the next down is positive growth from last year. His last incompletion was a tad inaccurate but graded as a drop, as Rome Odunze, and the throw hit both his hands. (PFF also graded this as a drop.) His worst throw on the day was an incompletion to Deion Hankins, a throw that was late and behind Hankins, causing Hankins to take an awkward hit. Factoring the throw away to Brittian Browns and the Odunze drop, his adjusted completion percentage was 77.8%.
Despite only playing 2 series, Caleb’s game score of 2.30 scores as a “Fantastic” half.
Best Play
This is a pretty simple 4 Verticals with Bills showing Cover 1 initially. Caleb Williams and Cole Kmet diagnose the defensive play call correctly, most likely reading the Nickle Cornerback’s outside leverage, and the Bills drop into Cover 2 post snap. Caleb delivers a perfect ball towards the middle of the field between the void of the Safeties and the dropping Linebacker. 4 Verticals is a perfect play call to attack the seam with the TE, as the Safeties are forced to respect the outside threat of the Wide Receivers, leaving just slower dropping Linebackers to try and get a hand on a throw over their heads. Caleb even delivers the ball shading towards the middle of the field to give Kmet even more open room to work with.
Worst Play
The incompletion to Deion Hankins was his worst throw on the evening, and there’s a few things that go into it. The play looks just to be a shallow cross with Caleb having to read the conflict defenders in the middle of the field. Coming out of a 7 step drop he’s a bit fast on his drop/read, not giving his Tight Ends time to settle and find the soft spots for an easy completion. Caleb moves onto his 3rd read, D. J. Moore running a deep Curl at the top of the screen, he passes up that window (which is available) and tries to hit his checkdown but hurries the throw as it ends up behind his target. Overall this play screams “slow down” to me. Slowing down his drop back, and his reads to let his offense talk to him. It’s worth noting a 7 step drop from under Center is abnormal in today’s NFL, and I cannot recall a single 7 step drop from under Center in the 2024 season, so this could just be a matter of unfamiliarity.
Tyson Bagent
Tyson came out of the gate absolutely on fire completing 10 of his first 12 throws and leading the Bears to three consecutive touchdown drives until a turnover on downs at the end of the 1st half. He was on target his first 3 1/2 drives, working both the short and intermediate of the field with relative ease, what stood out most to me was both is ability to attack the intermediate, going 4/6 for 83 yards and a fantastic touchdown to Tyler Scott.
He cooled down considerably after a 9 yard scramble midway through his 4th drive. completing just 3 of his next 10 passes. But 4 of his 6 drives lead to points for the Bears, and he overall had a great bounce back game from last week. The QB2 competition is alive and well it seems!
Playing the majority of the snaps in week 2, Tyson scored a 2.20, which is either a “Great” half, or a “Good” game depending on how you want to count his game time. (As seen below, two halves go into scoring a game hence the difference in nomenclature.)
Best Play
We saw the naked boot from Ben Johnson and the Bears a few time, and this is one of them. This is a pretty simple Hi-Lo read for Bagent. Very similar to how Caleb Williams started the day. His first read is the TE Stephen Carlson who is leaking underneath the formation, he is passed off and picked up by the defense, so using his mobility Tyson buys time with his feet allowing Tyler Scott time to reach the back of the endzone on the Crosser route. Tyson delivers a very accurate ball into good coverage, leading Scott into an open area while delivering the ball with the proper accuracy/touch to keep it out of harm from the defender.
Worst Play
Tyson’s worst throw came on a deep out to JP Richardson. The call is a standard Dagger concept to the bottom of the screen. Tyson does throw with anticipation on the play; however, the throw is well behind JP, giving him no chance at hauling the errant throw in. Jahdae Walker does a great job running his clear out route toward the boundary giving Tyson an ample window to hit Richardson. Tyson just missed it badly.
Austin Reed
Outside 1 deep throw that was both completely off target and a bit ill-advised, Austin was on target in his limited action to close out the evening. He also hilariously pulled off a fumblerooski for a gain of 3 yards on a drive that ultimately ended in an Ian Wheeler 10 yard touchdown run. He made back-to-back “Good” throws on a couple naked boots on the final drive to help ice the game and preserve a shutout against the Bills. But overall, he was efficient and accurate, about on par with how he looked to start his week 1 tape.
For the drive and a half he played, he earned a score of 1.20, rating as a “Good” half.
Best Play
Another naked boot Hi-Lo read, this time with Austin Reed Quarterbacking. (Hi-Lo’s are a staple of Ben Johnson’s offense, quick and easy reads that can stress a defense playing zone.) Joel Wilson is running the underneath route, the defense diagnosis’s this well as Wilson cannot get the edge on his defender. Reed moves on to read #2, Samori Toure, and using his good mobility he stretches the play out allowing Toure to round out his route and find the open field, Reed delivers an accurate ball despite a defender in his face, and covert a 1st down. A better throw here allows Toure to turn up field for more, but given the circumstance you certainly take the result.
Worst Play
This is actually a very similar play to the Caleb Williams 29 yard completion to Cole Kmet but with Dagger at the top of the screen instead of all go. Reed misdiagnoses this, as his intended receiver does not have enough separation on the dropping Line Backer. His first read looked to be Jahdae Walker who’s running the out route, and the ball most likely should have went there. But Reed delivers an inaccurate (and frankly lucky it was inaccurate because the deep Safety 100% had a beat on his throw.) This is a situation of learning for the young QB, sometimes it’s completely okay to take what the defense gives you on your first read, especially on first down.
Odds and Ends
- 26 plays were from shotgun, 20 from under center. In my time grading the Bears, that’s the largest percentage of under-center snaps I have seen, 43.48%. This is also the largest percentage of snaps across all players I’ve graded (Stroud/Love/Bagent/Fields) dating back to 2023.
- Caleb Williams’ 2.49s time to throw is the lowest I’ve charted for him since 2024 Week 2 against the Texans. (2.40)
- Bears QB’s went 7 for 12 on play action passing for 109 yards and 1 touchdown, for a 116.3 Passer Rating.
- The Bears gained 371 yards of offense in the 1st half, on Sunday. For reference, the Bears gained more than 371 yards TOTAL in just 6 games last year.
- The 528 total yards of offense is the most yards that the Bears have gained since Week 3 in 1989 against the Detroit Lions. (542)
