The futility of Chicago Bears quarterbacks is unprecedented. The Bears haven’t had a first-team All-Pro since Johnny Lujack in 1950. Over the last 70 seasons, they’ve had just three quarterbacks named to the Pro Bowl – Billy Wade in 1963, Jim McMahon in 1985, and Mitchell Trubisky in 2018 (Trubisky wasn’t selected to the Pro Bowl, but was added as a replacement).
To call the lack of quarterback success a drought is an understatement. It hasn’t been a who’s who of quarterbacks in Chicago. It’s been a who’s that?
The Bears swung and missed on Justin Fields with the 11th pick in 2021 and, after trading the first pick in the 2023 draft to let the Carolina Panthers draft a quarterback, one of the selections that came back turned into the first pick of the 2024 draft. The Bears declined all trade offers and chose Caleb Williams.
In 37 games at USC (33 starts), Williams threw for 10,082 yards with 93 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions. He wasn’t a prolific rusher (289 carries for 960 yards – a 3.3-yard average), but he scored 27 rushing touchdowns.
Williams has drawn comparisons to Patrick Mahomes, which can be good and bad. Williams has generational talent in terms of pocket awareness, mobility, and ability to fire passes from different arm angles – improvisation that creates big plays. However, Mahomes “gets away with” passes most QBs don’t because his coaching staff didn’t discourage him from taking unnecessary risks that can lead to turnovers. Williams got away with taking big risks in college that could be interceptions in the NFL.
Few players who are drafted No. 1 overall have immediate success because the teams they came to earned the first pick by being the worst team the previous season. That isn’t the case with Williams. The Bears were 7-10 in 2023 and have as much talent around Williams as any first overall pick in recent memory. Chicago already had wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet but added wide receiver Keenan Allen and running back D’Andre Swift in free agency. That was before using the ninth pick in the draft to select deep-threat wide receiver Rome Odunze. Williams has all the pieces around him to be elite quickly.
Fantasy football outlook
Williams is solidly in the top half of the QB2 rankings in 12-team leagues. If his ADP holds up on draft day, he’ll end up at a level where he would be paired with a quarterback like Dak Prescott, Kyler Murray or Jordan Love.
The Bears will start Williams on Day 1, but he doesn’t have to start on fantasy rosters until he proves he can make the transition to the NFL with ease. Like any rookie, he’s going to have his ups and downs along the way. He’ll look like a Pro Bowler one week and have an awful week the next. It’s a roller coaster all rookies ride.
With the talent assembled around him, Williams has a greater chance for immediate success than most rookie quarterbacks. At a minimum, he can be mixed and matched by those focusing on weekly matchups, with the strong potential to be the quarterback who starts more games than he doesn’t.
