Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' breakout season in 2025 was fun to watch, but he still has a long way to go to live up to his lofty pre-draft expectations. But if he takes to heart the advice of Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, he could very well join the elite tier of quarterbacks by the end of this season.

Sportscaster Adam Amin recently appeared on the 104.3 The Score Chicago radio program, and he revealed that Brees recently spoke to Williams during a production meeting ahead of the season. According to Amin, Brees asked Williams if he knew the difference between a quarterback who completes 60% of his passes and one who completes 70% of his passes.

"Three completions," is what Brees told Williams. "You get three more completions per game."

What three extra completions would mean for Caleb Williams' stats

It sounds overly simplified, but what Brees said is true. Three more completions per game would be 51 in a full season. If you add that to Williams' stats from last season, he would have completed 381 out of his 568 attempts. That would have increased Williams' completion rating from 58% to 67%, or almost exactly enough to get from 60% to 70%.

Beyond just getting him to an acceptable completion rating, these extra passes would have a massive ripple effect on the rest of his stats. Williams averaged 6.9 yards and 0.08 touchdowns per completion last year. With 51 additional successful passes, that would have added 352 yards and four touchdowns, which would have left Williams with 4,294 yards, 31 touchdowns, and a 102.54 passer rating.

If those are the numbers that Williams can put up in 2026, he will be deep in the MVP conversation, and potentially even win it. Both the MVP and the runner-up from last year, Matt Stafford and Drake Maye, respectively, crashed and burned in their season openers this week. The race for football's ultimate personal accolade is wide open and waiting for someone like Williams to claim it.

Caleb Williams' career development depends on improved accuracy

In fairness to Williams, his unacceptably low completion percentage last year wasn't entirely his fault. He threw the ball away more than any other quarterback (a good decision, as a neutral play is always better than a sack or a turnover), and his receivers had the third-most drops in the NFL. This is why, when head coach Ben Johnson focused on Caleb Williams' accuracy in OTAs, he involved the entire offense.

That doesn't totally absolve Williams of blame, however. He needs to be much more accurate and hit those layups more often. In 2025, this is where he struggled, and it held him back from the kind of regular season breakout that fellow 2024 draftee Drake Maye enjoyed.

Williams has said many times that he wants to be great. Remember, this is a player who publicly declared his goal to win multiple Super Bowls in Chicago, and who told Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times that he's willing to take less money on his next contract to make sure the Bears keep winning.

If Williams really meant everything that he said, then he'll take Bree's advice to heart and really try to understand what the Hall of Fame quarterback was telling him. He needs to find those three extra completions every game, whether they be checkdowns to the running back or a quick-hitting slant to the slot. Do that, and not only will Williams be up for the MVP award, but the Bears could very well earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

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