PFF doubles down on egregious Caleb Williams rating after four-TD game

After a breakout 2025 season and clear steps forward since an up-and-down rookie campaign, slowly but surely, Caleb Williams is living up to his hype as a No. 1 pick.

The Bears star, after leading the team back to the playoffs with 27 touchdown passes last year, opened the 2026 NFL season with arguably the best performance over his 34 career games so far. Chicago beat Carolina, 59-37, as Williams threw two touchdown passes and rushed for two more.

Despite his outstanding performance, Williams was given just a 64.0 passing grade by Pro Football Focus, leading the company to release an explanation on Tuesday.

Here's why PFF gave Williams a lackluster grade despite his four-touchdown game against the Panthers.

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PFF explains Caleb Williams' low grade vs. Panthers

PFF assessed Williams' performance against Carolina with a passing grade of 64.0, which, according to the site, ranked 16th among the 30 quarterbacks who threw at least 13 passes before Monday night's matchup.

Considering Williams and the Bears put up 59 points as the quarterback found the end zone four times, it left NFL fans confused.

Our NFL statistical overlords @PFF watched all of Week 1 and determined that Caleb Williams, with an overall grade of 62.5, was the 20th best quarterback this week. pic.twitter.com/Zehb159BKT

On Tuesday, PFF's managing editor, Mark Chichester, wrote a story explaining Williams' low grade, explaining what the grades are intended to measure.

Quarterback performances are assessed by what that player actually controlled about the play, the outlet explained, not necessarily the result, like a touchdown.

"PFF grades were built to be box-score agnostic and to capture everything the box score misses. Every play is evaluated on what the player did with it, independent of what the stat line says happened afterward. And that works in both directions," Chichester wrote. "A quarterback can finish with an underwhelming stat line and still grade well if the reads were right, the throws were placed well and on time and whatever went wrong did so after the ball left his hand.

Another quarterback can finish with a pristine stat line and grade more modestly if he was asked to make routine throws all afternoon and his receivers manufactured most of the production after the catch."

In PFF's explanation, Chichester wrote that among Williams' 40 dropbacks against the Panthers, 11 of them earned positive grades (a play a quarterback added value to), 23 earned a 0.0 grade (plays a quarterback is expected to make) and six were negatively graded, including a -1.5 individual grade on Williams' interception that was called back due to a penalty, erasing it from the box score.

"Traditional statistics record the result, while PFF’s grading process evaluates the quarterback’s execution regardless of whether a penalty, teammate or opponent ultimately changes that result," Chichester explained.

According to PFF, Williams' 27.5% positively graded play rate ranked 12th among 30 qualifying quarterbacks in Week 1.

"None of this is to say Williams played poorly, and his grade isn't saying that, either. ... Williams made high-level plays, largely kept the ball out of harm’s way and helped lead one of the league’s most productive offenses," Chichester wrote. "He also missed on roughly a quarter of his throws and had one particularly costly mistake that never appeared in the interception column. A 64.0 passing grade reflects that entire body of work, not simply the result."

Caleb Williams stats vs. Panthers

Here's a look at Willams' box score numbers vs. Carolina:

• Completions/Attempts: 21/29
• Completion Percentage: 72.4%
• Passing Yards: 269
• AVG: 9.3
• Passing TDs: 2
• INTs: 0
• Sacks: 2
• Rating: 124.1
• Rushing Yards: 65
• Rushing TDs: 2