By just about every metric, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had an electric game in the Bears’ Week 1 thriller against the Carolina Panthers. He completed 72% of his passes for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and added 65 yards and another pair of touchdowns on the ground.

The results speak for themselves. Williams earned a 124.1 passer rating and a career-high 94.9 QBR at ESPN. The experts over at Pro Football Network (PFN) gave him an 88.5 grade, the fourth-best mark for any quarterback this week, pending the results of Monday Night Football. The consensus view is that Williams played one of his best games yet in his NFL career, and that's what makes his grade at Pro Football Focus (PFF) so perplexing.

As of this writing, Caleb Williams' PFF grade stands at a measly 59.3, ranking 21st out of 28 quarterbacks. Needless to say, this caused quite a stir on social media, with NFL analyst Nick Wright expressing his disbelief at this score.

PFF's grading system doesn't often match the eye test

This certainly isn't the first time that PFF's grading system has led to a general uproar following a week of NFL games. Three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt has famously beefed with PFF's grades over the years, suggesting that they're not a real representation of a player's impact.

Whether one agrees with Watt or not, Williams' grade after Week 1 has to count as evidence in his favor. There's simply no way to look at what Williams did on Sunday, then look around at the rest of the league and say that 20 other quarterbacks had better games. On top of completing 72% of his passes, Williams rocketed up the speed charts by running faster than 20 miles per hour on both of his rushing touchdowns.

Was Williams perfect? By no means. There were throws he certainly wanted back, like his attempted pass to Colston Loveland on a crosser that looked like it could have gone for a long touchdown if he'd hit Loveland in the numbers. But I don't believe for a minute that one off-target throw could tank Williams' grade, especially when you consider his otherworldly throws to Rome Odunze and Cole Kmet earlier in the game.

The Bottom Line

Other quarterbacks had great games in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, there's no denying that. Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence played like an MVP as he utterly dominated the Cleveland Browns, throwing four passing touchdowns on the day. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen showed off his connection with new receiver D.J. Moore, hitting him for a wild 43-yard catch-and-run touchdown against the Houston Texans.

However, their PFF grades came much closer to reality. Allen finished Week 1 with a solid 76.6 grade, while Lawrence graded out at an elite 85.2 mark. What could possibly have led PFF to assign Williams a measly 59.3 grade? The world may never know, but we do know that they're more off-target than Gary Anderson was in the 1998 NFC championship game.

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