UDPATE: Bears confirmed Williams suffered a right hamstring strain
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was taken to the locker room in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Vikings after a non-contact injury to his right leg. Williams was scrambling to his left when he pulled up abruptly with no defender near him and slid to the ground. He was helped to the sideline, unable to put much weight on the leg, before being carted back to the locker room.
ProFootballDoc, weighed in on the mechanism and by video analysis believes this looks like a hamstring strain rather than something more structural. That read lines up with how the play unfolded: a non-contact injury where a player pulls up mid-stride while changing direction is a classic hamstring presentation, distinct from the kind of injury you'd expect from a plant-and-twist mechanism that points more toward a knee or ankle.
Williams has been largely durable through his first two-plus NFL seasons, and this looks like a new issue rather than a recurring one. He tweaked his ankle late in a 2024 game against the Cardinals on a scramble but stayed in and walked out fine afterward. He also left a December 2025 game against the Browns limping on a leg injury right before halftime, only to return for the second half once he'd been checked out. He does have hamstring history dating back to college, a significant strain suffered at USC in the 2022 Pac-12 Championship Game that he played through, though nothing in his NFL career has pointed to it being a recurring trouble spot.
With Williams out, Case Keenum would be the next man up under center for Chicago. There's still no word from the team on the official diagnosis as of yet.
