CHICAGO – If Caleb Williams has done any sort of extensive homework on the 104 seasons of Chicago Bears quarterback history, it wasn’t apparent when he met with a massive media horde at the NFL scouting combine earlier this month. Less than two minutes into his rapid-fire Q-and-A session on a brightly lit stage in Indianapolis, Williams was reminded that the Bears “haven’t had a whole lot of dominant quarterback play” and was asked if that affected him at all. “No,” he said. “Not at all. I don’t compare myself to the other guys who are there or have been there. I think I’m my own player.” And then he dropped the line that will follow him into the NFL and throughout his professional playing career. “I tend to like to create history and rewrite history,” Williams said. Well, kid, the pen should be yours soon, with a stack of blank pages to be authored, presumably for the next several chapters of Bears history. With Saturday’s trade of Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional Day 3 draft pick in 2025, Bears general manager Ryan Poles cleared the way to draft a quarterback with the No. 1 pick next month. And the consensus inside league circles is that Williams is the likely selection.
Barring a twist over the next five weeks, that would put the 22-year-old Heisman Trophy winner from USC into his new orange Bears practice jersey for the first day of rookie minicamp on May 10 at Halas Hall. It also would drop Williams into a football-crazed and failure-scarred community that anticipates his arrival with much fervor. Some are ready to welcome Williams to Chicago with uncontrollable glee. Others are waiting with extreme skepticism.
Williams will be billed as the franchise quarterback who has arrived to help Poles make good on his vow for the Bears to “take the North and never give it back.” And he will be scrutinized by disbelievers who will challenge him with a “prove it” proviso. Yet as much as Williams will be tested to ride the NFL’s quarterback roller coaster with enthusiasm and equanimity, Bears fans will be tested to recalibrate their QB1 expectations to a reasonable level. And if last weekend’s reaction to the Fields trade is any indication, that might be one of the more difficult asks within this ongoing saga. MOVING FORWARD Poles’ decision to pivot at quarterback and reboot with a new prospect already qualifies as prudent. Fields’ inability, at the end of three seasons, to clear several critical developmental checkpoints accelerated his exit from a city where so many fell in love with his playmaking flashes and team-driven mentality.
Couple that with the opportunity knocking for the Bears with this year’s No. 1 selection, and most folks within the NFL see this as a “no regrets” change of course. Still, for Poles’ defining move as GM to one day qualify as a success, whichever quarterback he drafts will have to not only outperform Fields over the next decade, but also, more importantly, become the engine of a sustained run of success. That should not be up for debate. That’s why these dice are being rolled. If Williams plans to rewrite history, Chicago expects to see at least an outline, if not a rough draft, by the end of 2024. The Bears’ last playoff victory came on Jan. 16, 2011. Williams was 9 years old.
