Caleb Williams named NFC Offensive Player of the Week after 4-TD game in Bears victory

Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune on Sep 24, 2025

Published in Football

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CHICAGO — After consecutive weeks of opposing quarterbacks being awarded for their performance against the Chicago Bears, Caleb Williams claimed NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for Week 3.

The second-year quarterback was selected Wednesday for his 298-yard, four-touchdown performance in Sunday’s 31-14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field that lifted the Bears (1-2) to their first win of the season.

“It builds the confidence to go out and have the game like we had today,” Williams said Sunday. “The consistency and things like that, that becomes a thing when you have a day like today, and then you can come back and do it again and again.”

Williams completed 19 of 28 passes, had a 142.8 passer rating and wasn’t sacked in a complete performance that included touchdown passes to four receivers. He’s tied for second in the league with seven touchdown passes, two behind the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, and his 107.6 passer rating ranks sixth.

“In terms of the execution, he’s getting a lot better, a lot more comfortable with his footwork,” coach Ben Johnson said Monday. “It’s repetitions, not just for the concepts that we’ve been doing from the springtime to training camp, but also we’re putting in new ones each week.

“He’s got a good system in place right now that he’s adhering to, and it’s showing up on game day to where we’re starting to reap some of the rewards from that.”

Williams is the first Bears player to earn NFC honors on offense since wide receiver DJ Moore was selected in Week 5 of 2023 for his 230-yard, three-touchdown game in a victory over the Washington Commanders.

The last Bears quarterback to be named NFC Offensive Player of the Week was Justin Fields, who had the rare distinction of winning the award on a losing team. In Week 9 of 2022, Fields completed 17 of 28 passes for 123 yards and three touchdowns and ran 15 times for 178 yards and a score in a 35-32 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Mitch Trubisky won the award once for a 355-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 34-22 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 10 of 2018. He also ran for a score that day. Before Trubisky, the last Bears quarterback to win the award was Josh McCown in Week 14 of 2013.

The Bears defense was on the wrong side of the award in the first two weeks this season. J.J. McCarthy was selected in Week 1 after he rallied the Minnesota Vikings to three fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 27-24 victory. Jared Goff’s five-touchdown showing in the Lions’ 31-point victory over the Bears made him the winner in Week 2.