Caleb Williams’ second touchdown pass to DJ Moore was a thing of beauty. The Bears quarterback saw the star receiver create separation down the field and didn’t hesitate to let it fly.

The route was excellent and the strike was right on target, which Moore jumped up and grabbed for a crucial touchdown in a decisive 36-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers. An underrated, yet critical part of this play was Williams using his eyes to manipulate the safety and make that throw a lot easier to complete.

That was impressive for a someone quarterbacking just his fifth NFL game. It was a highlight in a game full of them, culminating in the best performance of his young career.

Let’s break down his performance and where Williams goes next in this week’s edition of Counting on Caleb:

Week 5 stat lines

Box score

20-for-29 passing (69.0 comp%), 304 yds, 6.9 ypa, 2 TD, 0 INT, 126.2 passer rating; 5 rushes, 34 yards, 1 sack, 0 fumbles

PFF Metrics

Kept clean (82.9%): 20-for-27, 304 yds, 11.3 ypa 2 TD, 0 INT

Under pressure (17.1%): 2-for-6, 0 yds, 0 ypa, 0 TD, 0 INT

Not Blitzed (65.7%): 11-for-18, 159 yds, 8.8 ypa, 1 TD, 0 INT

When Blitzed (34.3%): 9-for-11, 145 yds, 13.2 ypa, 1 TD, 0 INT

PFF Passing direction map

Overall evaluation

The significant signs of progress were so evident against the Panthers, in all aspects of Williams’ game.

He was better at the line of scrimmage, with an assist from Shane Waldron, who had the offense play on the ball for portions of time. Williams is comfortable there and looked it.

Williams was excellent against the blitz, as you can see in the numbers above, but that’s a continuation of a trend. Per PFF, Williams was 17-for-19 for 200 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero turnover-worthy plays over the last two games. That should lessen the amount of blitzes thrown at him, especially if he continues to beat it.

Deep passing was another relative problem spot. He was 3-for-22 for 118 yards and three interceptions on throws of 20-plus yards. He was 3-for-4 for 89 yards and two touchdowns in that category.

All those improvements state a singular point, Williams’ arrow is pointing way up, which is remarkable for a young player through five games.

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Matt Eberflus, Cole Kmet and Williams on Williams’ Week 5 performance

“The ability to get the ball to receivers in a more consistent way. That was by design. That was by — we hadn’t had a big game like that by the receivers yet. So there’s playing point guard, he’s done that a couple of games ago. Last game getting it to the tight ends and backs. But this was getting the ball down the field to the receivers. That was most exciting to me.” – Eberflus

“The main thing was having zero turnovers. With the defense we have, it’s about not forcing things. I’m sure he’ll look at the tape and wish that he tried some throws he didn’t try, but he has really good awareness of where the team’s at and not forcing things just to force them.” – Cole Kmet

“Playing well with each other of short passes, good runs, check downs and then obviously opening up and being able to hit a couple of deep balls. I think, one: it limits kind of what defenses can do in a sense of, when you’re hitting on different things, now the defense is trying to scramble and trying to figure it out and when you’re being consistent, how we were today with the run game, and obviously with the pass game and hitting some explosives, some explosive plays, it does good for whole football team.” — Williams

Rookie rankings

Williams is among three rookie quarterbacks making regular starts for their respective teams at this time. Here are their overall stats through three weeks:

Jayden Daniels (Washington): 101-of-131 passing (77.1 comp%), 1135 yds, 4 TD, 2 INT, 8.7 ypa, 106.2 passer rating; 57 rushes, 300 yds, 4 TD; 12 sacks, 3 fumbles

Bo Nix (Denver): 102-of-165 passing (61.8 comp%), 866 yds, 3 TD, 4 INT, 5.2 ypa, 71.4 passer rating; 31 rushes, 119 yds, 3 TD; 7 sacks, 0 fumbles

Caleb Williams (Bears): 107-for-170 passing (62.9 comp%), 1,091 yds, 5 TD, 4 INT, 6.4 ypa, 81.3 passer rating; 21 rushes for 113 yds; 17 sacks, 3 fumbles

Looking ahead

The Bears arrived in London on Tuesday morning to start preparing for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that won its first game with a Week 5 win over Indianapolis.

You can only play the team up next on the schedule, but some are surely waiting to see how Williams fares against increased competition. The Jags have some defensive talent that can change games, including Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen up front.

The important thing for Williams, which seems to have clicked two weeks ago, is taking what the defense gives him, while creating opportunities to make the big plays completed against the Panthers.

Eberflus, Williams and Kmet on what comes next

On Williams’ ability to make reads and get the offense into the right play: “It’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting better. Defenses give you different looks and disguise different things, and sometimes you’re right when you do it. Oftentimes you’re right, but sometimes you’re not. We’re getting better at that week to week.” — Eberflus 

On progress from Williams: “He’s a quick learner. That’s not easy, especially at this level. I just think it shows the desire to get better each and every week. He has the talent to be one of the best in the league, but he has done a good job of being patient with himself in a certain regard, but also having that fire on him where he knows he needs to get better at certain things. There things we all can get better at, but his command of the offense just gets better every week, even a lot faster than I had anticipated.” – Kmet

On playing in London: “Sleep and recovery is super important for everything, mental, all of that, to be able to recall all these plays that we have and be able to go out there and win. I think that’s the biggest challenge, is the sleep and things like that. We have to do a good job with that.” — Williams

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