Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears is having the kind of run that could earn him the MVP award, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. There's a lot of football left to play, and one major factor could keep him out of the race.
In a feature released on Tuesday, Ben Solak of ESPN notes that Williams could certainly be up for the honor, but missing time is a huge detriment to his chances of winning it. In the piece, he predicts that Williams "will end up an MVP candidate who missed too much time."
Caleb Williams' MVP hopes could survive his missed games, but the Bears quarterback still has a major hurdle to overcome
In the piece, Solak makes the case that if Williams keeps performing well while putting up the big numbers he's bringing to the table, the NFL won't be able to ignore him, even with the missed time.
He says that if Williams "continues to play high-percentage ball while adding the playmaking ability afforded by his legs and authoring a couple of heroic late-game throws in high-leverage spots, then he's going to look like an MVP by December. And we will all be forced to reconcile with the missed games and whatever other narratives have developed about the other candidates since."
But the MVP race is always a tough one, so missing three games could hurt. One positive is that Williams missed those games early in the season, so Solak notes that voters may almost forget he was out by the time voting rolls around. If the Bears go deep in the playoffs, that would obviously help his case, too.
