Caleb Williams shoulders blame for a pivotal interception, but his second-half surge and season stats hint at resilience amidst playoff pressure.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams spoke about the last play of the game in the 28-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Williams and the offense were down seven with 3:32 left and needed another game-winning drive from their quarterback. Everything came down to a 4th-and-1 on the Green Bay 14-yard line.
Head coach Ben Johnson opted to pass instead of running the ball with two timeouts in his back pocket. Williams rolled out and tried to get the ball to tight end Cole Kmet, but Keisean Nixon intercepted the pass.
Johnson has come under fire for passing the ball in that situation, but Williams insisted he needed to throw a better pass to Kmet.
"We had about two or three guys either stacking Swift, or right there with Swift," Williams said. "So, rolled out and saw Cole. I tried to give him a big-boy ball, tried to let him go up for it, because I ended up seeing 25 starting to sprint. Tried to slow him up and give him a chance in those moments. It's a got-to-have-it moment, and they had a guy trailing me, so I didn't feel that I could go and get it myself. So, just gotta give Cole a better shot at it next time, and just extend him a little bit more."
Along with his interception, Williams struggled in the first half, finishing with under 50 yards. However, he turned things around in the second half and finished with 186 passing yards and two touchdowns.
While the ending of the game wasn't ideal, he has still put up some solid numbers in 2025. He now has 2,908 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and six interceptions.
After the loss, Chicago fell to the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoff race. The Bears are now also second in the NFC North, as the Packers retook the lead with Sunday's win.
There are still some chances for Chicago to redeem itself before the end of the regular season. The Bears face the Cleveland Browns, the Packers, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Detroit Lions in that order.
There is a lot left to play for if you're the Bears. There are no easy games in the NFL, even when it's against a struggling Browns team. Cleveland lost 31-29 to the Tennessee Titans in its last game, but will not go down without a fight.
Sunday's game kicks off at noon CT on Fox.