Ben SolakOct 28, 2025, 07:14 PM ETCloseBen Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.
play1:09Bart Scott calls out Vikings for QB ‘malpractice’Bart Scott calls out the Vikings for their struggles at the quarterback position and wasting away Justin Jefferson’s prime.
play2:38Rich Eisen: Jonathan Taylor is the NFL MVP right nowRich Eisen weighs in on the strong start to the season by Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor and the Colts.
play0:34Why Schefter does not think the Eagles will trade A.J. BrownAdam Schefter says he wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles make a move before the deadline, but he doesn’t expect A.J. Brown to be traded.
play0:43Takeaways from James Cook’s nice fantasy gameLiz Loza breaks reacts to James Cook’s big fantasy game vs. the Panthers.
play1:21Alex Smith blasts Woody Johnson over Jets’ dysfunctionAlex Smith calls Woody Johnson “cowardly” for his comments targeting Justin Fields.
Woody: Drake Maye is the best QB in 2024 draft class (1:03)Damien Woody says Drake Maye is playing like a top-5 quarterback and is the best QB from the 2024 draft class. (1:03)
Bart Scott calls out Vikings for QB ‘malpractice’Bart Scott calls out the Vikings for their struggles at the quarterback position and wasting away Justin Jefferson’s prime.
Bart Scott calls out the Vikings for their struggles at the quarterback position and wasting away Justin Jefferson’s prime.
Rich Eisen: Jonathan Taylor is the NFL MVP right nowRich Eisen weighs in on the strong start to the season by Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor and the Colts.
Rich Eisen weighs in on the strong start to the season by Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor and the Colts.
Why Schefter does not think the Eagles will trade A.J. BrownAdam Schefter says he wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles make a move before the deadline, but he doesn’t expect A.J. Brown to be traded.
Adam Schefter says he wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles make a move before the deadline, but he doesn’t expect A.J. Brown to be traded.
Takeaways from James Cook’s nice fantasy gameLiz Loza breaks reacts to James Cook’s big fantasy game vs. the Panthers.
Alex Smith blasts Woody Johnson over Jets’ dysfunctionAlex Smith calls Woody Johnson “cowardly” for his comments targeting Justin Fields.
The Big Thing: Four first-half takes I can’t wait to talk through
We acted like the Vikings’ Sam Darnold decision was easy … it wasn’t
Through the first half of the season, Drake Maye is the MVP
We need to celebrate one Colts assistant I never see mentioned
Patriots recoup value on the old regime’s draft pick
The Tuesday column has been quiet since Week 1, as I took paternity leave following the arrival of my second kid. She’s real stinkin’ cute, and her big sister loves her (if perhaps a little too enthusiastically at times). Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes.
I shaved it all down to my four biggest, most urgent takes from two months of NFL silence. Then I submitted my trade deadline wish list, answered some of your questions and ended the column with some Next Ben Stats. Let’s hit the ground running.
Jump to a section: The Big Thing: Takes I can’t wait to discuss Four trades that need to happen Mailbag: Answering questions from … you Next Ben Stats: Wild Week 8 stats
Every week, this column will kick off with one wide look at a key game, player or trend from the previous slate of NFL action. What does it mean for the rest of the season? This week, we looked at four things that have been on my mind since my last column — way back before Week 2.
I understand why Bears fans are frustrated. When Williams was selected with the first pick in the 2024 NFL draft, he came with glorious fanfare. Yet to this point in his career, he has been dramatically outproduced by the second (Jayden Daniels) and third (Drake Maye) picks. On film, they’ve outplayed him, too. We get consistent Sunday reminders of what could have been.
In that frustration, the ability to calibrate to Williams’ play has been lost. Because he has been relatively disappointing, that must mean he is outright disappointing. I strongly disagree. He has been good this season. We haven’t seen the things that were promised — stupendous, life-changing, franchise-resurrecting play — but he hasn’t been bad. Not just decent — better than decent. He has been good!
Of course, this is a disagreement in chemistry more than a physical deficiency. Williams wants Moore to keep working across the end line; Moore stops at a landmark and covers himself with the linebacker in front of him. Some of Williams’ perceived inconsistency belongs to his lack of chemistry with his receivers (namely Moore, going back to last season) — and that is a shared burden. It doesn’t fall on Williams alone.
Another reason Williams’ play is herky-jerky belongs to coach Ben Johnson and the nature of the Bears’ passing game. Chicago is sixth in run rate over expectation. As a team, it is seeking a consistent ground game to set up an explosive passing attack.
This isn’t a bad approach — in fact, it’s smart. It plays to Williams’ strengths (arm talent, throw on move) while concealing team weaknesses. But it means Williams’ numbers and lowlights look worse than those of other young quarterbacks (such as Bo Nix and Daniels) who are given more underneath opportunities.
Often, when a team has such a high-profile quarterback as Williams, all of its decisions — playcalling, game management, personnel moves — get filtered through the QB. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but it’s rarely accurate. When I watch the first half of the Bears’ season, I see Johnson working to protect his offensive line more than his quarterback.
I see a frustrating backfield, too. D’Andre Swift, who was so hot entering Week 8, missed an easy read for a touchdown run on the first drive (which ended in a field goal) and blew a couple of pass protections, one of which created an intentional grounding penalty. Even with the considerable improvement of the Bears’ running game the past few weeks, Williams is still facing an average third-down distance of 8.7 yards — second longest in the league.
Those third downs aren’t just long because of an inconsistent running game. The Bears are also one of the most penalized offenses in football. Again, some of that belongs to Williams, who runs the operation at the line of scrimmage. But not all of it.
Williams has plenty to improve. He must be more accurate on layup throws, which he is obviously rushing and overthinking. His hurried releases stem from a rookie season in which he held the ball far too long and took too many bad sacks. But notice the growth from Year 1 to Year 2. He has halved his sack rate, from 10% in 2024 to below 5% this season. The more he’s able to trust his pass protection, the smoother these throws will become.
In the meantime, here’s a reminder of what he is capable of doing. This is not merely a great throw, but a spectacular one — one that maybe six or seven quarterbacks are able to pull off. It’s dropped, though, and another potential touchdown drive ends in a field goal attempt.
It might seem like Williams is destined for the same path as Kyler Murray or Trevor Lawrence — a first-round pick talented enough to get a big second contract but not consistent enough to ever win with that cap weight hanging around his neck. We might eventually end up there. But even Murray and Lawrence were not and are not as physically talented as this. As such, I have an alternative career arc comp to make: Josh Allen.
The 2024 season was easily the best of Darnold’s career. But it ended on a sour note. In Week 18, Minnesota lost the NFC’s No. 1 seed to the Lions in a 31-9 defeat; the team was then booted from the playoffs by the Rams 27-9 in the wild-card round.
Of Darnold’s 18 starts last season, he had only three games with a success rate below 40%, two of which were the above losses. He had only two games with a EPA per dropback below minus-0.5 — again, those two losses.
When season turned to offseason and contract time came around, the limits on Darnold seemed accordingly obvious. He had been pressured heavily in those two losses to NFC contenders — rates of 48.9% and 52.0%, respectively. Would he always wilt under pressure? Would he never beat the toughest defenses under the brightest lights?
At the time, I thought the Vikings should re-sign Darnold to a modest deal. If he beat out J.J. McCarthy in camp, great. The Vikings would have a trade chip in McCarthy and a solid veteran quarterback, still only 28 years old. If McCarthy beat him out in camp, great. The Vikings would have a trade chip in Darnold and a solid rookie-contract quarterback.
But after those two ugly nationally televised, high-stakes defeats, the public response was clear and unanimous: no shot. It made no sense to pay Darnold with McCarthy waiting in the wings to take over on a cheap contract. Turn the keys over now.
I don’t bring this up to victory-lap a good take. In fact, the second half of that tweet — that Darnold would almost certainly land in a worse offensive system, and his play would decline — is a total miss. When the Seahawks eventually signed Darnold after trading Geno Smith away, I panned it as one of the offseason’s worst mistakes: a clear downgrade at quarterback for not much cap savings. Wrong! Very wrong!
Those free agents, along with McCarthy, were the two birds in the bush. We know that early drafted rookie quarterbacks can bust in spectacular fashion. We know that big free agent contracts can fail spectacularly. (Maybe the Darnold deal would have!) But Minnesota ran to the greater uncertainty anyway.
Minnesota didn’t make these mistakes because it let Darnold out the door. And the book is not shut on McCarthy, who has just two starts under his belt. But it’s closing quickly, all while Darnold is shredding in Seattle, a totally evolved passer from his failed Jets era because of the year he spent under Kevin O’Connell’s tutelage.