Caleb Williams wasn’t the only quarterback the Bears liked in the draft.
General manager Ryan Poles had his eye on several of them last fall, and during his end-of-season news conference in January, one reporter misinterpreted one of his comments as saying he had first-round grades on four.
“No, there’s more than that right now,” he clarified.
Indeed, the Bears had high enough opinions of multiple quarterback prospects to justify moving on from Justin Fields. But they never wavered on keeping the No. 1 pick and taking Williams, rather than trading down for what would’ve been a record-shattering haul and going with J.J. McCarthy, Jayden Daniels or someone else, because Poles strongly believed Williams was miles ahead of the rest of the class. In his mind, it wasn’t close.
That was the consensus beyond Halas Hall, too, and appears to have been true to this point in the offseason, but the Bears will begin finding out if they were right when the season begins Sept. 8. They finished preseason practices Thursday, and players have a free weekend before reconvening Monday to start practicing for the Titans.
Williams must flourish in the real games to prove himself, of course, but there haven’t been any yet. All that can be evaluated at this point is his work in practice, where he already has proven to be a more perceptive and proficient passer than Fields was last season, and in preseason games.
He’s one of three rookie quarterbacks who will open as their team’s starter along with the Commanders’ Daniels (No. 2 pick) and the Broncos’ Bo Nix (No. 12). The Patriots decided Thursday they’ll keep Drake Maye (No. 3) on the bench behind veteran Jacoby Brissett, and the Falcons planned all along for Michael Penix Jr. (No. 8) to sit for at least a season behind $180 million man Kirk Cousins.
McCarthy (No. 10) was second on the Vikings’ depth chart when he was ruled out with a knee injury.
In sharp departure from their recent history, the Bears set about their grand adventure with Williams insistent upon doing everything right. Fields and Mitch Trubisky certainly had their limitations, but they also began their careers in a swamp of dysfunction. Poles and coach Matt Eberflus weren’t about to squander a rare talent by repeating the errors of Ryan Pace, Matt Nagy and John Fox.
That meant naming Williams the clear, undisputed starter from Day 1 — maybe even earlier, considering that picking him was a foregone conclusion well before they actually selected him and their pre-draft meetings centered on planning a future together. They also offloaded Fields to the Steelers, and would’ve released him if no trade emerged, to clear the way for Williams to grow without anyone looking over his shoulder.
Eberflus officially named Williams the starter May 10, but only when he was asked. It was an unnecessary question. The Bears were never going to waste time with Williams and make him wait behind a veteran for first-string reps.
Three months later, the Commanders made the obvious move of naming Daniels the starter and the Broncos — in what appeared to be a legitimate competition — opted for Nix over journeyman Jarrett Stidham. Broncos coach Sean Payton actually listed Nix third on his initial depth chart.
The benefit to Williams was that he probably got more first-team snaps than any other rookie quarterback, and Poles and Eberflus pitted him against the first-string defense for all of those.
That gave Williams a preview of all the sophisticated tricks veteran defenders will use to bait him into mistakes, but it also offered the Bears an accurate gauge of his progress. Poles said it has been reassuring to see the skill Williams showed at USC transfer to the practice field.
The best way to track that development was to give Williams a head start. His next challenge is to maintain that lead on his peers.
