Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has been voted the 51st best player in the NFL in a poll of league players.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft made a huge leap in his second NFL season in 2025, leading the Bears to their first division title since 2018 and first postseason win since 2010.
Williams flourished in his first year working with coach Ben Johnson, setting a Bears single-season passing record with 3,942 yards and ranking fifth in the NFL with a 27-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
The talented quarterback helped the Bears rally to win seven games they trailed in the final 2:00—six in the regular season and one in the playoffs—the most by an NFL team since at least 1970. Two of the comeback victories came against the rival Packers in which the Bears twice erased double digit fourth-quarter deficits, the latter coming in a thrilling wild card showdown.
"The things that we highlighted for Caleb to start the season, I did think they improved as the season went along," Johnson said. "We revamped the footwork a little bit last spring, and I think the comfort level grew from that. He certainly got more comfortable with the concepts that we were running over the course of the season.
"That's something that we can build upon, and yet there's still a lot more that we can push through in that regard. And so, I'm really encouraged about the steps he took. I'm Caleb Williams' No. 1 believer. I have a lot of faith in him, what he's capable of doing, and the player that he's still striving to become."
The former USC standout was at his best in crunch time, regularly displaying his clutch gene with remarkable highlight throws that had to be seen to be believed.
"When you watched his college tape, you knew that some of those wild throws were part of his game," said general manager Ryan Poles. "I would say the one thing that stands out that I was happy to see come back was his pocket presence, his ability to escape. I think that is a rare trait that he has. You saw that come alive."
Williams started every game for the second straight season, the first Bears quarterback to accomplish that feat in back-to-back years since the NFL expanded from 14 to 16 games in 1978. The previous two Bears quarterbacks to make every start in two straight seasons were Bob Avellini (1976-77) and Bill Wade (1962-63).
Williams' 361 yards in the wild card win over the Packers were the most by a Bears quarterback in a postseason game, topping Mitchell Trubisky's 303 yards Jan. 16, 2019, against the Eagles. It was the second most yards in Williams' career, trailing only the 363 yards he compiled Sept. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis.
The "NFL Top 100" countdown is underway on X. Two players are being revealed at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. CT daily Monday through Friday through Aug. 21, before one Top 10 player is unveiled each weekday beginning at 9 a.m. CT on Monday, Aug. 24 through Friday, Sept. 4.
