The debate between Caleb Williams and Justin Fields was fervent for months leading up to the 2024 draft. Many fans urged the Chicago Bears to forgo taking a quarterback #1 overall, trade down, and accept another haul of draft picks, while keeping building around Fields. Instead, GM Ryan Poles opted to trade the veteran to Pittsburgh, selecting Williams to replace him. It was a divisive move at the time, given that Fields had improved to 7-10 in 2023. There were signs of life. Teammates didn't want him to go.
In hindsight, Poles made the right decision.
It is already apparent that Williams is the superior passer. He processes faster than Fields did and has already started mastering the difficulty of playing from the pocket. Yet there is one stat that hammers home the vast gulf between the two quarterbacks. Dan Wiederer of The Athletic laid it out. In 38 starts between 2021 and 2023, Fields had 23 opportunities to either tie or win a game in the final eight minutes of regulation or overtime. He was 3-of-23 in those situations (3-of-24 following today's loss to Denver).
In his 21 games to date, Williams has seen that 11 times. He's 4-of-11 as of writing this.
That isn't even the craziest part of the stat for Caleb Williams.
In actuality, it should be 6-of-11. He had two other comebacks that were erased because of massive blunders by the Bears' defense and special teams. He'd led the go-ahead touchdown drive in Washington that was undone by the Hail Mary. Then he had the Bears in field goal position against Green Bay at home, but the kick was blocked. Two plays out of Caleb Williams' control stopped him from doubling up Fields' total in 17 fewer games. That is just bananas to think about.
For all the love Fields got and deserved in his time with the Bears, it always felt like he never got enough criticism for how bad he was in crunch time. His 72.3 passer rating in the 4th quarter is by far the worst of any quarter in his career. Keep in mind that's even with the benefit of garbage time moments when defenses are playing softer. The backlash from trading him probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad if his supporters had kept those numbers in mind.
