Why Caleb Williams’ Week 1 PFF grade doesn’t match his box score

Key Points:

• Caleb Williams led the Chicago Bears to a 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers, throwing for 334 total yards and four touchdowns, but earned a modest 64.0 PFF passing grade, ranking 16th among 30 quarterbacks with at least 13 passes.
• PFF grades evaluate quarterback performance on every play based on decision-making, accuracy, and execution rather than just box score results, explaining why Williams' high touchdown count did not translate to a higher grade.
• Williams completed 72.4% of his passes but had a low 53.8% accurate throw rate and was 6.8 percentage points below expectation in accuracy, indicating many completions required receivers to adjust or make difficult catches.
• A costly interception thrown by Williams was negated by a penalty and did not appear in the box score, but negatively impacted his grade significantly, illustrating how PFF grades consider the quality of decisions regardless of official statistics.
• Overall, Williams showed a mix of high-level plays and mistakes, with a 27.5% positively graded play rate above average and a 15.0% negatively graded play rate at league average, reflecting a solid but not exceptional passing performance.