Ditching hero ball for efficiency, Chicago’s young star embraced a simple statistical secret from Drew Brees to transform his accuracy and spark a dominant offensive performance.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has a ton of talent, but his game isn't perfect.
Even with all the accomplishments he had last year, there were still times when he made mistakes trying too hard to play hero ball.
As a result, he threw more interceptions than he did as a rookie. Williams finished with 3,942 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He then threw five interceptions in the playoffs.
His completion percentage also took a hit compared to his first year. Williams had a completion percentage of 62.5% as a rookie, and it was 58.1% last year.
Fast forward to last weekend, and Williams threw for 269 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers. His completion percentage was 72.1%.
It's just one game, but it's a promising start for Williams, who has struggled to maintain a consistent completion percentage in the past.
The conversation around Williams this offseason has been about getting him to learn to take the easy plays the defense gives him, instead of always looking for a highlight-level throw.
If he does this, then it will make him a better quarterback. Williams also received advice from a Hall of Fame quarterback, which has improved his game.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson said Williams spoke with Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees this offseason. Brees was named to the 2026 Hall of Fame class this offseason.
Brees played in the NFL for 20 years.
He started his NFL career in 2001 with the San Diego Chargers. He then joined the New Orleans Saints as a free agent, and his career took off from there. He was a 13-time Pro Bowler, Super Bowl Champion, and one-time First-Team All-Pro.
So, if there's anyone for Williams to get advice from on how to improve his game, it's Brees. Williams shared one piece of advice from Brees that has helped his game tremendously.
At Wednesday's press conference, Williams said Brees told him that if he just completed three more passes per game, he would have a 70% completion rate.
"Yeah, I mean, he's a legend," Williams said. "5,000 yards consistently throughout his seasons that he's had and things like that. And so as a quarterback, and his completion percentage and those were high. So, you know, when he says like that or anything like that, it moves you, especially when you watch him growing up. I mean, he simply just said, find three more completions. You'll find three more completions, at the end of the year, you'll be a 70% guy."
We not only saw Williams have a higher completion percentage in his first game, but we also saw him unafraid to run when he needed to. It doesn't sound like much, but sometimes that's what you have to do if your receivers are covered.
In addition to his 269 passing yards, Williams had 65 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Forcing the ball where it doesn't need to go just to make a play isn't a recipe for success. That's only going to result in more interceptions and a lower completion percentage.
Brees is definitely not a bad player to get advice from, especially for a young quarterback like Williams.
It sounds like he's already learning from his mistakes last year.
