The Chicago Bears are no stranger to being underestimated, and ESPN’s latest positional rankings from Mike Clay are no exception. While some of his positional rankings are logical, such as putting Chicago’s offensive line unit at No. 3, others are shockingly off.
ESPN ranked the Bears' quarterback room as the 12th best in the NFL. One thing Clay emphasized in his article is that he was analyzing the entire room. Obviously, the starting quarterback has a large bearing on this rating. So, it is hard to believe that there are 11 quarterbacks in the NFL that are unequivocally better than Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
One thing Bears fans will also take offense to is that the Green Bay Packers quarterback room, despite not having a reliable
backup like Chicago does, is ranked No. 6. This is essentially saying that Packers quarterback Jordan Love is better than Caleb Williams. That does not match with how both quarterbacks played last season.
Williams led the Bears to six comeback wins and 11 total victories while Love was only able to lead Green Bay to nine wins. Furthermore, Williams passed for nearly 600 more yards than Love, had more passing touchdowns and was a better dual threat with more rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. On top of that, Love has yet to win a postseason game in his NFL career; Williams won his first postseason game last year against Love and the Packers.
Overall, it seems hard to believe that Green Bay has a better quarterback room than Chicago when Williams’ performance last season was superior to Love’s and the Packers are just one of the teams ranked ahead of the Bears.
After looking at each of the positions, Clay finishes his article by ranking each team overall. The Bears, who are the reigning NFC North champions, came in at No. 16 overall and the third among the NFC North teams with the Detroit Lions at No. 6 and the Packers at No. 13.
Clay's belief that the Bears will regress and be third in their division is something that other analysts have expressed as well, but there is not much to support that view. Chicago has a franchise quarterback with a balanced offensive tackle, one of the best offensive lines in the country and, according to Clay’s own rankings, one of the best cornerback units in the NFL. They certainly should be ranked higher than the No. 16 team in the league.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears QB Caleb Williams disrespected in ESPN rankings
