Why Caleb Williams won’t make his Bears debut during the Hall of Fame Game

Caleb Williams will eventually throw a beautiful pass in game action for the Chicago Bears, and it will probably be glorious. We’ll likely even get to see it from the Hard Knocks angle. But for anyone hoping to see the hyped No. 1 overall pick in action during Chicago’s Hall of Fame Game against the Houston Texans on Thursday night, they’re going to be sorely disappointed.

After Tuesday’s Bears’ training camp practice, head coach Matt Eberflus revealed that Chicago’s starters will not play a single snap in its first preseason game.

Why? The Bears think they’ve already been getting in good work with their extra camp time and are satisfied with where they stand in the late summer.

Coach Eberflus announced that starters will not be playing in the Hall of Fame Game Thursday pic.twitter.com/tjBDrU1opS

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) July 30, 2024

The Bears’ rationale makes sense.

Being slotted in the Hall of Fame Game meant the Bears reported over a week earlier to training camp than many NFL teams. It gave them more quality practice time together while letting them throw more things at a Williams at a comfortable pace as they’ve developed him.

As a result, throwing Williams or any key starters into vanilla preseason action for maybe a possession or two feels fruitless at this stage. It provides no real benefit for a rookie quarterback and team that probably rightfully thinks they’re ahead of the curve on 2024 season prep. It’s good forward-thinking and puts Williams in an even better place ahead of his likely preseason debut on Saturday, August 10, against the Buffalo Bills.

And for anyone who still thinks Williams should be exposed to Hall of Fame Game action. If his rookie season’s success was going to be determined by extremely short preseason action against a defense also playing backups, he never had a chance in the first place.