In recent weeks, Simms and I have raised once or twice the question of whether Bears quarterback Caleb Williams belongs in the top tier of NFL franchise quarterbacks.
Based on Monday night’s 34-point performance against a Seahawks defense that held the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes to three points a week earlier, it’s time to render a verdict.
Yes.
The new top four, in our view, are (in no particular order), Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Caleb Williams.
Lamar Jackson previously had been the fourth. A lost season due to multiple injuries puts him at No. 5, until he reestablishes himself in 2027. (And there’s no reason to believe he won’t, if he can get and stay healthy.)
For now, Caleb has crashed the party.
In Week 7 at Seattle, Mahomes completed 19 of 33 passes for 165 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. His passer rating for the game was 58.9. In Week 8 at Seattle, Williams went 24 for 34 for 247 yards, one touchdown, and no picks. Williams also sparked a 39-yard gain on a key third-down backward pass to receiver Khalif Raymond, which set up the score that turned a 20-17 margin into a 27-17 clincher.
And before anyone says Mahomes didn’t have any support in the running game, Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III and Bears running back D’Andre Swift averaged an identical 2.6 yards per carry against the Seahawks’ defense.
So, yes, Caleb is a top-level NFL quarterback. Despite missing three games with a hamstring injury, his odds to win the NFL MVP award are down to 5-1, behind only Allen, Brock Purdy, and Burrow.
If the Bears keep doing what they did on Monday night — and if they finish the season with the No. 1 seed in the NFC — Williams will get plenty of votes. And he has a real chance to win it.
Even if he’d much rather win the MVP award not for the regular season, but for the Super Bowl.
The Bengals announced that rookie defensive end Cashius Howell had wrist surgery on Monday, but head coach Zac Taylor said he didn’t have a specific timeline for Howell’s return to action.
That timeline got a little clearer on Tuesday. The Bengals announced that Howell has been placed on injured reserve and will have to miss at least four games before he’s able to get back into the lineup.
Howell was a second-round pick this year. He had six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and five quarterback hits while playing around 40 percent of the defensive snaps in Cincinnati’s first seven games.
The Bengals have not made a move to fill Howell’s spot on the roster. Myles Murphy, Boye Mafe, Cedric Johnson, and Shemar Stewart are their other defensive ends.
The Bengals are set to be without rookie defensive end Cashius Howell in the coming weeks.
Head coach Zac Taylor said at a Monday press conference that Howell had wrist surgery after being injured in Sunday’s overtime win over the Titans. Taylor did not specify a timeline for the second-round pick’s return, but the Bengals have not put Howell on injured reserve at this point so that suggests they think he can return without missing four games.
Howell has played around 40 percent of the defensive snaps this season. He has six tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and five quarterback hits.
With Howell out of action, 2025 first-round pick Shemar Stewart could see more playing time. Stewart played on Sunday, but was a healthy scratch the week before due to the other options at defensive end in Cincinnati.
The Falcons have ruled out a pair of players for this week’s game against the Bengals in Madrid.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said that defensive end Samson Ebukam and wide receiver Zachariah Branch will both miss the game due to hamstring injuries. Stefanski said he does not know if the two players will miss more time.
Ebukam has 11 tackles and 2.5 sacks in seven appearances this season. Branch has 10 catches for 64 yards on offense and he has also served as a punt and kickoff returner.
The Falcons will update the rest of their injuries when they release their first practice report of the week on Wednesday.
The Bengals apparently need to dig themselves a 13-0 hole before they’re ready to start playing football this season.
The Bengals spotted the Ravens that lead in the first half of Week 7 before rallying for a 35-13 win and they found themselves down 13-0 in the first quarter against the Titans this Sunday. They didn’t wait until the second half to get their act together this week, but they had to struggle the whole way before finally nailing down a 43-36 overtime win.
Burrow and others fielded questions about their slow starts in their postgame press conferences, but Burrow was more interested in the final scores because he feels that scrapping out wins like their last two are a sign that the team has fixed part of what has ailed them the last few years.
“We found a way to win today. We’re 5-2,” Burrow said, via a transcript from the team. “We lose that game for the last three years. It’s hard to win. You want to be great snap in snap out, but it’s not the reality of it. All we can do is keep working hard and get better. You win from wins and losses and good plays and bad plays. That’s what the NFL and getting better is. We’ll continue to do that.”
Burrow threw three interceptions to go with five touchdown passes and his game-winning touchdown run on Sunday. He acknowledged the need to “be better and limit those critical mistakes,” but returned often to the theme of finding ways to win when they would have fallen apart in the past.
Star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase gave a fiery halftime speech last week when the Bengals trailed the Ravens 13-0. The Bengals won 35-13.
Chase put his frustration on public display Sunday, once spiking his helmet on the sideline and another time being animated. The Bengals trailed the Titans 13-0, 28-23 and 36-29 before winning 43-36 in overtime.
The Bengals seem to like angry Chase.
“He’s a pro, and guys get emotional sometimes,” quarterback Joe Burrow said, via Geoff Hobson of the team website. “That’s how it is. I like when he gets emotional like that. It usually means I need to do a better job of throwing him the ball. That’s a good reminder.”
Chase had his first 100-yard game of the season, with 141 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches, but two of Burrow’s interceptions were intended for Chase. The quarterback and wide receiver had a miscommunication on a scramble drill on one, and Burrow underthrew a wide-open Chase on another that should have been a touchdown.
Chase agreed that he “probably was” upset, but he wouldn’t say why.
“He may be mad at me. He may be mad at whoever,” coach Zac Taylor said, via Ben Baby of ESPN. “I trust him to go out there and do his job. That doesn’t change anything.
“I kind of like it, to be honest with you. It’s something different to deal with. It’s kind of good. I like the competitiveness from our guys.”
In one of the craziest games of this NFL season, Joe Burrow totaled six touchdowns as he led the Bengals to a surprisingly hard-fought 43-36 overtime win over the Titans today.
Burrow completed 38 of 48 passes for 462 yards with five touchdowns, three interceptions and three sacks, and he ran the ball three times for 10 yards and another touchdown.
Days after trading away their best player, the Titans showed they’re not giving up on this season, giving the Bengals everything they could handle for 60 minutes, and then some. Titans quarterback Cam Ward had a career-high 304 passing yards, but he couldn’t move the Titans in overtime after Burrow’s overtime touchdown gave the Bengals their final lead.
The trade of defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons to the Bears for two first-round picks led some to think the Titans were tanking on the season, but they sure didn’t play like it today in Cincinnati. They jumped out to a 13-0 lead over the Bengals and never quit, in an exciting game that featured an excellent quarterback duel.
But ultimately it was Burrow who made more plays, as the Bengals improved to 5-2 on the season and continued to look like they’re going to be playoff contenders. The Titans fall to 1-7 and don’t look like they’re going anywhere — but do look like they’re going to keep fighting.
The Titans caught the Bengals by surprise today in Cincinnati, jumping out to a surprising 13-0 first quarter lead.
And then the second quarter was all Bengals.
It’s now 14-13 Bengals at halftime after Joe Burrow threw two second-quarter touchdown passes, one to Ja’Marr Chase and one to Jack Endries.
The Titans showed they’re not just tanking by the way they came out strong, but the Bengals showed they’re the better team in the second quarter. This looks like a game the Bengals should control in the second half.
Someone forgot to tell the Titans they’re supposed to be tanking.
After Tennessee sent its best player, Jeffery Simmons, to Chicago last week, there was talk that the Titans were waving the white flag on the season. It sure doesn’t look that way early on in Cincinnati today.
The Titans have taken a 10-0 lead on a 41-yard touchdown run by Tony Pollard. That came after the Titans’ offense opened the game with a 10-play, 52-yard drive that resulted in a Joey Slye 46-yard field goal.
And just when the Bengals’ offense started to get going, Joe Burrow was intercepted by Tennessee’s Amani Hooker.
The Bengals came into the game heavily favored, but so far it’s been all Titans.
Wide receiver George Pickens has touchdown catches in two of his last three games and he’ll have a chance to make it three of four against the Cardinals on Sunday.
Pickens was listed as questionable on the Cowboys’ final injury report due to shoulder and hamstring issues, but he avoided the inactive list ahead of kickoff in Dallas. Pickens has 37 catches for 485 yards overall this season.
Defensive tackle Kenny Clark was also listed as questionable for the Cowboys due to a back injury. He joins Pickens in the lineup for Week 8.
Cardinals at Cowboys
Cardinals: QB Carson Beck, CB Starling Thomas, RB Evan Hull, LB Eku Leota, OL Jon Gaines, OL Albert Reese, DL Walter Nolen
Cowboys: WR KaVontae Turpin, CB Shavon Revel, LB Dee Winters, LB Tyrus Wheat, OL Drew Shelton, TE Luke Schoonmaker
Raiders at Jets
Raiders: WR Dont’e Thornton, QB Aidan O’Connell, WR Malik Benson, S Tristin McCollum, S Dalton Johnson, OL Bryce Cabeldue, DT JJ Pegues
Jets: RB Breece Hall, WR Tim Patrick, OL Max Mitchell, OL Kohl Levao, LB David Bailey, LB Joseph Ossai, CB Nahshon Wright
Falcons at Buccaneers
Falcons: QB Andy Dalton, QB Jack Strand, LB Divine Deablo, RB Brian Robinson, DB Billy Bowman, CB Robert Longerbeam, DE Drake Jackson
Buccaneers: WR Emeka Egbuka, CB Ayden Garnes, G Luke Haggard, G Billy Schrauth, DL DeMonte Capehart
Ravens at Bills
Ravens: WR Elijah Sarratt, S Jaylinn Hawkins, CB Chandler Rivers, OL Emery Jones, G Vega Ioane, DL Aeneas Peebles, QB Joe Fagnano
Bills: OT Spencer Brown, OL Ar’maj Reed-Adams, DL Greg Gaines, WR Skyler Bell, LB Mike Danna, CB Dee Alford, S Jalon Kilgore
Browns at Steelers
Browns: QB Dillon Gabriel, QB Taylen Green, LB Justin Jefferson, CB Noah Igbinoghene, RB Audric Estime, C Parker Brailsford
Steelers: WR Ben Skowronek, QB Drew Allar, QB Will Howard, CB Brandin Echols, RB Eli Heidenreich, CB Doneiko Slaughter
Colts at Jaguars
Colts: LB Bryce Boetticher, TE Pharaoh Brown, DT Kevin Givens, WR Anthony Gould, OL Charlie Heck, QB Riley Leonard, CB Justin Walley
Jaguars: S Antonio Johnson, WR CJ Williams, CB Alijah Huzzie, LB Jamal Hill, DE Wesley Williams, DT Albert Regis
Vikings at Lions
Vikings: S Jakobe Thomas, CB Charles Demmings, RB Demond Claiborne, OL Caleb Tiernan, DL Elijah Williams, QB Max Brosmer
Lions: TE Jackson Meeks, C Seth McLaughlin, DL Mekhi Wingo, DE Ahmed Hassanein, S Bishop Fitzgerald
Titans at Bengals
Titans: RB Tyjae Spears, WR Carnell Tate, P Tommy Townsend, OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, TE Kylen Granson, DL Jackie Marshall, DB Jaylon Jones
Bengals: S Kyle Dugger, C Connor Lew, OL Myles Hinton, WR Mitchell Tinsley, DT Landon Robinson
