Somehow, we’re already a quarter of the way through the season. Time flies when you’re having fun! And through the first four games of Caleb Williams’ career, Bears fans are having fun. Right? Fine, Bears fans are having something that closely relates to fun.
For this club, winning both of their home games and losing both of their away games during the first month of the Williams era seems appropriate. They’re undoubtedly better than they were a year ago, but thus far they’ve suffered from an unshakeable feeling of underachievement. Still, there are Made Up Blog Awards to be given out, and Awards SZN never sleeps. Only a part of a season is experienced four times a year! There isn’t time to linger. Here are one 25% mark loser and the victors with a 25% mark.
1. MVP: Jaylon Johnson
He is without a doubt the team’s best player; at this point, I don’t even think it’s close. Out of 97 corners with enough snaps to qualify, Johnson is ranked seventh among football’s best cornerbacks by Pro Football Focus during the first four weeks of play. Of the eight defensive players on the Bears who have played at least 200 snaps thus far, Johnson has the best defensive grade (78.8); only Kevin Byard is somewhat closer (74.3). Johnson leads all qualified corners in the league in interceptions, NFL quarterback rating against, and reception percentage (Rec%). Right now, he is the only Bears player performing at an All-Pro level.
2. LVP: Gerald Everett
I have nothing personal against Everett, but why is he playing for the Bears? At the time, it didn’t seem like a great idea to sign Cole Kmet because he was in the prime of his career and the Bears weren’t in dire need of pass catchers. As of Week 5, the Everett Experiment is yielding zero (0) yards on three catches on five targets, just as practically everyone who is not named Shane Waldron predicted. Yes, exactly zero yards. You kind of get an idea of how things are going because he presently has the second-worst run-blocking grade of his career on PFF. He’s not robbing Kmet of as many shots as he did at the start of the year.
3. MIP: Caleb Williams
Although Williams hasn’t quite taken off as some had hoped or as quickly as Jayden Daniels has, his progress has been practically linear from week to week. Williams is getting better every week, according to both the underlying analytics and the eye test, and his effective effort in the Bears’ Week 4 victory over the Rams could have been his finest yet. Williams will have plenty opportunities for the elusive breakthrough performance as the Bears have some winnable games coming up in the coming month against the Panthers, Jaguars, and Cardinals. It’s not happened yet, which is bad news, but it feels more like a matter of when rather than if. Following all that they’ve been through, Bears fans will take that after four games.
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