What Really Was Caleb Williams' 2025 Season? & More Lingering Questions

We've reached the end of our Lingering Questions series for the 2026 offseason, and we close it out with a trio of questions that loom large over the year to come. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman dive deep into critical questions about Caleb Williams, the Bengals offense, and the Steelers defense on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

0:00 Welcome to the show
1:07 What was Caleb Williams’ season?
1:27 Incorrect!
2:54 Where some inconsistencies come from
6:23 The bigger concerns
7:46 Take a breath, buddy
8:00 Ball placement
10:00 He knows where to miss
12:22 Regression is coming
13:28 The Jordan Love path
14:22 Josh Allen example unfair?
14:50 Jared Goff a more apt comparison?
15:44 Ben Johnson as the QB shepherd
17:09 The completion percentage conversation
18:15 Throw aways and drops
19:37 Cole Kmet jumping for joy
20:30 Contested catches & DJ Moore
20:59 Rome Odunze 50/50 balls
21:09 Luther Burden III 50/50 balls
22:34 Out of structure efficiency
23:30 In-rhythm success
26:50 Hey, much fewer sacks!
27:20 Down-field throws
27:55 How much better will he be?
28:49 Dallas Cowboys/Cincinnati Bengals parallels
29:24 Is the Bengals offense Super Bowl-ready?
30:46 Bengals lack of explosives
31:30 Joe Burrow
33:08 “They need to be more different”
34:28 Bengals run game
36:30 New build of o-line
36:50 Amarius Mims
37:26 What the run game SHOULD be
40:44 Lack of play action
42:33 Pardon the pun
44:14 Eric All Jr
44:24 “This is some real TAFS shit right here”
46:06 Sense of urgency in Bengals building
47:06 Drew Sample
48:39 We want to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers
48:49 The Aaron Rodgers caveat
49:01 Patrick Graham to Steelers
49:16 How should we feel about Patrick Graham (and Steelers defense)?
49:46 Las Vegas Raiders seasons a bad indicator?
52:01 Graham and Pete Carroll
53:02 Jamal Adams = spiritual linebacker
54:26 Isaiah Pola-Mao
55:04 Most talent Graham has never had
56:14 Graham’s improvement of Raiders defense
57:57 Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson
1:00:16 We’re not talking about that!

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