Caleb Williams Week 6 QB Grade: Bears @ Commanders

Did someone say déjà vu?

After a thrilling 25–24 victory in Las Vegas over the Raiders, capped off by a walk-off field goal block. The Chicago Bears hit the road once again, this time to face the Washington Commanders in Landover. In a rainy, sloppy, back-and-forth affair, the Bears exorcised their 2024 Hail Mary demons (we’ll ignore how weird that sounds) with a walk-off 38-yard field goal to secure another 25–24 road win.

Caleb Williams, for lack of a better term, was up and down in the rain. Statistically, he put together a respectable line: completing 17 of 29 passes for 252 yards, two total touchdowns (one rushing), a 98.6 NFL Passer Rating, and a 129.9 True Passer Rating. But despite the numbers, accuracy was an issue, completing just 58.6% of his passes, with several of those misses being way off target.

Could the stat line have looked a bit better if not for a few questionable calls from officiating going against us? Absolutely. Most notably, a touchdown strike to Rome Odunze that was called back (though it still earned a “Great” throw grade in review) which would’ve extended Rome’s touchdown streak to start the season to five games.

Anyway, we’re not here to dwell on the what-ifs.

Let’s dive into Caleb’s Week 6 metrics and breakdown.

Benchmarks

(Season Averages in Italics)

C/A: 20.3/32.5 (62.5%) | 17/29 (58.6%)

Yards: 231.8 | 252

aDOT: 8.5 | 8.5

Touchdowns: 2.3 | 2

Turnovers: 0.5 | 0

QB at Fault Sacks: *.8 | 2

Passer Rating: 97.8| 98.6

True Passer Rating: 132.8| 129.9

Time to Throw: 3.04s | 2.48s

Time to Pressure: 2.62s | 2.57s

Pressure Rate: 31.31% | 26.32%

On-Target Rate: 61.9% | 66.7%

Poor Play Rate / Big Play Rate: 12.2% PPR / 7.6% BPR | 12.5% PPR / 5.0% BRP

Game Notes

The full grading sheet for each play can be found here.

• NFL Passer Rating / True Passer Rating / PFF Grade: 98.6 / 129.9 / 46.1
• On-Target Throws: Season Average: 61.9% | Week 6 against the Commander: 66.7%
  • This marked a season high for Caleb in On-Target Throws, which honestly surprised me. Watching live, it felt like he struggled to hit anything consistently. But on rewatch through the All-22, the issue became clear: when he missed, he missed badly. It’s also worth remembering that deflected passes can still count as on-target throws, which factored into this week’s total. Both of his turnover-worthy throws were technically on target. So, moral of the story: Caleb was on target when he was on target… but when he wasn’t, he really wasn’t.
• 12.5% Poor Play Rate (turnover-worthy + poorly graded plays) against a 5.0% Big Play Rate (great + elite graded plays)
  • We saw a spike in his Poor Play Rate this week, as Caleb threw two passes that could’ve easily been intercepted and missed on several routine completions due to poor accuracy.
• The Bears’ offensive line deserves a lot of credit. They held...