Caleb Williams Promises To Fix His Completion %. Just Not For The Reason You Think

Caleb Williams almost had a perfect second season for the Chicago Bears in 2025. He threw for a franchise-best 3,941 yards, along with 27 touchdowns, while adding another three on the ground. He is only the third quarterback to cross 30 TDs in a season in team history. His seven 4th quarter comebacks are another franchise-best, and he’s now only the second quarterback to ever beat the rival Green Bay Packers in a playoff game. The first since Sid Luckman in 1941. One would think fans would be ecstatic.

They are, to be fair. However, some of them just cannot get over one specific issue about Williams’ season. For all the heroics and magical plays, he finished with a 58.1 completion percentage. That was the worst of any starting quarterback in the NFL last year. It demonstrates a lack of efficiency, which people constantly hold against Williams. Until he gets that fixed, he’ll never be an elite quarterback. He was asked about it during an interview on Pardon My Take. Williams promised the problem would be fixed this coming season. However, it might be for different reasons than simply because he should.

“Obviously, I want to get that up, get the completion percentage up. Some of the things that I do on the field, it negatively impacts that. But we’ll get it up just to shut everybody up and help them understand. . . . We’ll get it up, we’ll make everybody’s heart feel warm and lovely, and it’ll also help us in the long run of winning games and starting games better, starting games faster, doing all those things.”

Caleb Williams will fix it out of spite.

It is pretty evident that the Bears’ quarterback is tired of hearing about the completion percentage. Part of it stems from the unceasing mention of it. However, there is another layer involved. It is also because he feels it’s a little unfair. Too many people just look at the stat and don’t bother to mention the context. Williams alluded to one part of it during that same interview.

“I throw the ball away the most to try and keep us in advantageous positions because I know Coach will go for it on 4th down.”

In this, he is correct. Williams led the NFL last season in throwaways with 40. For those who don’t know, a throwaway is an instance in which the quarterback intentionally throws the ball out of bounds or into the dirt to avoid taking a sack or turning it over. This is done with the intent of preserving the down and distance and allowing another opportunity to convert in reasonable yardage.

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The other part that people keep ignoring is the types of throws Williams was attempting. Last season, the Bears quarterback ranked 2nd in the NFL in passing attempts of 20 yards or more with 94. Such aggressiveness leads to more big plays, but it’s also harder to maintain a high completion percentage. Matthew Stafford, who ranked #1 in that category, finished with just 63.4% of his passes completed. That is below league average, yet he was the MVP.

Williams is right to be tired of the discussion.

Yes, he does need to improve the completions. That isn’t something he’s arguing. What he’s asking for is not such a big deal to be made out of it. The Bears won 11 games last year with him playing the way he did. Yet some keep treating it as if he had a terrible season. Would they prefer he risk more interceptions and sacks by not throwing the ball away and trying to force it more to his receivers? Would they prefer he take more checkdowns just to make sure the completion percentage goes up, even if it costs big play opportunities?

None of this even mentions that Chicago was 4th in dropped passes last year, with 29. Again, context is always important. It would be one thing if Caleb Williams were just sailing the ball constantly on almost half of his throws every week. That was not the case. Multiple factors worked against him that weren’t always within his control. Yet here he is, continuing to hear about it. No wonder he’s annoyed. One can imagine he’ll be using all of this as motivation, less to improve the stat and more to shut people up.