Where does Caleb Williams rank among all NFC quarterbacks through Week 6?

Perhaps no fanbase in the NFL has hung their collective hopes so completely on one player as fans of the Chicago Bears have on Caleb Williams. The No. 1 overall player in the draft, Williams appeared like a lush oasis in a decades-long Bears quarterback desert, but is he just a mirage, or will he finally be the one to sate Bears fans' thirst?

Some Bears fans panicked after Williams' first two lackluster games, a defense-fueled win over the Titans and a frustrating loss to the Texans, but most remained patient through his rocky start. The rookie led only one touchdown drive through those two games, and he missed badly on nearly all of his downfield attempts. This was to be expected for a rookie playing in his first professional games against two good defenses though, even for someone who entered the league with as much hype as Williams.

Since the Texans game, Williams has been progressing at a meteoric pace. He's thrown for over 300 yards twice, and since losing to the Colts in Week 3, he's turned the ball over just one time while leading the Bears to three straight victories and over 31 points a game. In short, he's becoming a star right before our eyes.

The Bears aren't the only team on a roll in the NFC, and Williams isn't the only talented quarterback that is having his way with opposing defenses. Chicago's division, the NFC North, has the four teams with the best point differential in the entire NFL, and all four of them are at least two games over .500, the first time that's ever happened through six weeks.

Williams has been fantastic, especially lately, but he's not even the NFC rookie QB with the most buzz. That would be Jayden Daniels of the Commanders, who has picked up where he left off from last year's Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at LSU by dominating with his arm and his legs. He and Williams will meet in a highly-anticipated matchup in Week 8 with the NFC standings and the Offensive Rookie of the Year race in the balance.

Other NFC quarterbacks have done noteworthy things, too, from the Lions' Jared Goff setting a record by connecting on 18 passes without an incompletion in a Monday Night Football win over the Seahawks to Baker Mayfield leading the league in touchdown passes with 15.

With what Williams has shown lately, Bears fans wouldn't trade him for any other signal-caller in the league. Where does he rank among his peers, though, and what should Bears fans expect from him the rest of the way? Let's take a look.

Caleb Williams is climbing the NFC leaderboards every week

Williams was at the bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category through two weeks. He had only 267 yards passing and one touchdown while taking nine sacks, and his 24.2 QBR ranked ahead of only the since-benched Bryce Young. Since then, though, he's been steadily climbing in nearly every way.

Williams has overtaken Kyler Murray and Derek Carr in passing yards per game, and he ranks fourth among NFC quarterbacks in rushing yards, behind only Daniels, Murray and Jalen Hurts. He also has a higher completion percentage than Sam Darnold, Dak Prescott, Daniel Jones and Jordan Love thanks to the last three games, especially the win over the Jaguars in which he went 23 for 29.

Despite his recent strong play, Williams' slow start is still having an outsized impact on his standing among the rest of the NFC's quarterbacks. He has significantly raised his QBR from those first two games to 45.5 as of today, but that still ranks him at the bottom of the NFC. He's also still taken the most sacks in the NFC with 20, in large part due to the seven he took against Houston.

Williams and the Bears have been climbing in the areas where it counts the most — points scored and wins. The Bears now rank ninth in the NFC and 12th in the NFL with a robust 24.7 points per game, and their four wins trail only the undefeated Vikings in the conference.

The Bears have had much more success running the ball in recent weeks, but Williams deserves a ton of the credit as well for the way the offense has been operating. His nine touchdown passes are tied for fourth-most in the conference behind Mayfield, Love and Darnold, and he's one of just four NFC quarterbacks to throw for four touchdowns in a game (Joe Burrow of the Bengals threw for five in a Week 5 loss to the Ravens).

Williams may not rank among the NFC's elite from a statistical perspective just yet, but if he can continue improving as he has in the last month, it's only a matter of time until he's at or near the top in many categories. Bears fans aren't worried about statistics, though, they're just happy to know that after a lifetime of searching, they've finally found their guy.