The narrative that Caleb Williams would struggle to play in structure or on time was parrotted by “analysts” during the pre-draft process, and it’s still brought up by some talking heads today.
The notion that Williams would be a bad fit for a Ben Johnson-designed offense started months ago, and now that Johnson has been hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, we’re getting more of that regurgitated.
Keep in mind that some NFL analysts don’t have time to thoroughly analyze the film of the players they’re paid to discuss, which is why we get the same thing said over and over and over and over by some pundits. The phrase out-of-town-stupid comes to mind often as I peruse NFL analysts’ work.
Johnson isn’t going to bring his Detroit Lions playbook, which he designed with Jared Goff in mind, over to the Bears and Caleb. The only thing he’ll do similarly is sit down with the quarterback and design the playbook around his skill set. His Bears offense will not be the same as his Lions offense.
That said, Johnson will build in some quick throws for Caleb, much like he did for Goff.
Caleb will be asked to play on time, but that’s never been a problem for him.
In his recent Football 301 podcast, Nate Tice and Matt Harmon discussed this very thing. Their film breakdowns led them to believe that Caleb, when he has time, often stays in structure. They said he works through all his progressions while navigating the pocket, which is what Bears fans saw this season..
That podcast is really good, and all the Bears stuff comes in the first segment, so check it out.
And all this leads me to the point of this article, which is over 300 words in.
Pro Football Focus tracks time to throw and check out this nugget about how often Goff and Williams got the ball out in 2.5 seconds or less.
Caleb Williams and Jared Goff are very different styles of QB, but I found this stat comparison interesting:
Percentage of passes thrown in 2.5 seconds or less
Williams – 40.0%
Goff – 40.2%No doubt Goff definitely gets rid of the ball quicker, but Caleb Williams can too
— Lorin Cox (@CoxSports1) January 23, 2025
Caleb Williams and Jared Goff are very different styles of QB, but I found this stat comparison interesting:
Percentage of passes thrown in 2.5 seconds or less
Williams – 40.0%
Goff – 40.2%
No doubt Goff definitely gets rid of the ball quicker, but Caleb Williams can too.
That Tweet prompted someone to ask Lorin how many of these throws were due to screen passes.
Percentage of passes that were thrown in 2.5s or less and not screen passe
Williams – 37.3%
Goff – 36.9%
FWIW, Goff threw the 11th most screen passes of any QB last season (69). Caleb threw the most at 101.
Still very comparable numbers on non-screen quick passes.
Look, does Williams tend to hold onto the ball too long? Of course. He’s trying to get through his progressions and trying to make a play. He’ll get better at knowing when to take off and when to throw it away, which will bring his sacks down.
But that’s something he’ll learn with experience and better coaching, two things he’s primed to have in 2025.