While ESPY voters overlook his Divisional Round heroics, Caleb Williams’ ice-cold fourth-down touchdown strike against the Rams cemented his status as Chicago’s undisputed clutch playmaker.
If you asked Chicago Bears fans what their favorite Caleb Williams play of 2025 was, you may get a lot of different answers.
That's only because they are a lot of great highlight-level plays to pick from.
Williams was part of every fourth-quarter comeback the Bears made last season. It started with the drive he led versus the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4. Williams led a scoring drive to give the team a late lead before Josh Blackwell and the special teams came up clutch with a blocked field goal to seal the win.
In the following game against the Washington Commanders, he led the drive that ended in a game-winning field goal from late addition Jake Moody, who came in for the injured Cairo Santos.
He led more fourth-quarter comebacks in games against the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants, and Green Bay Packers.
Williams nearly had another fourth-quarter comeback in the Divisional Round of the playoffs with the Los Angeles Rams. Instead, it tied the game and forced overtime.
The Bears were down 17-10 late in the fourth quarter and got to a pivotal 4th-and-4 at the 14-yard line of the Rams.
In the face of multiple Rams' pass rushers, Williams somehow got the ball out to Cole Kmet, who was in the perfect position in the end zone to force overtime.
Of all the plays Williams made last season, this one would probably be a favorite among Bears fans. Outside of the Windy City, sports fans are leaning towards another play for the best play of the year.
The ESPYs kicked off on Wednesday night, and fans from around the country began betting on Kalshi, a prediction market where you can bet on real-world events, to predict which play would win best play.
The choices were OG Anunoby's tip-in in the NBA Finals for the New York Knicks, UConn's buzzer-beater in March Madness against Duke, Williams' TD vs. the Rams, or either of the golden goals for the U.S. Men's or Women's Hockey at the Olympics.
As of Wednesday, the favorite was Anunoby's tip-in at 89%. Williams' touchdown pass in the Divisional Round was third with 2% of the votes.
The main difference between the tip-in and buzzer beater, which were ahead of Williams in the voting, was that they resulted in wins for their teams.
The Knicks completed a 29-point comeback against the San Antonio Spurs thanks to Anunoby's play, and UConn obviously won the game after hitting the buzzer beater, even though there were 0.3 seconds still left on the clock.
I don't think people realize how remarkable a throw it was from Williams. He had to make that throw off his back foot while trying to evade three Rams pass rushers.
Understandably, Anunoby's tip-in and a buzzer beater are going to attract attention because of what they meant for the games. However, only 2% of fans thinking Williams' throw was the best play comes across as disrespectful.
It seems that Kalshi was right, as the voters landed on Anunoby. I think we all know where the votes for Williams came from.
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