Overview
- The Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 59-37 in Week 1 with Caleb Williams throwing for 269 yards and two passing touchdowns while adding 65 rushing yards and two rushing scores.
- Pro Football Focus gave Williams an overall Week 1 grade of roughly 62.5 and placed him about 20th among quarterbacks while publishing a dropback breakdown showing 11 positive, 23 zero and six negative graded dropbacks.
- PFF’s managing editor explained Tuesday that the grades are meant to be box‑score agnostic and focus on what a QB controls — reads, decisions and throw placement — and that human evaluators assign numeric grades to each dropback.
- Fans, Chicago beat writers and national commentators including FS1’s Nick Wright sharply criticized the grade and PFF’s messaging, arguing the numerical score clashes with the clear on‑field result.
- The dispute has raised questions about PFF’s methodology, the transparency of its public messaging and the wider influence of its evaluations on media and teams, and the Bears head into Week 2 with scrutiny on both Williams and how his play is measured.