The Bears can change coordinators and coaches and stadiums, and it won’t matter unless rookie quarterback Caleb Williams grows into a star. He remains the single most important person at Halas Hall, and no one else in that building has as much influence on the Bears’ future.
Williams’ development was always the most important thing this season, but now it’s the only thing.
When he returns to the facility Monday after a free weekend that included a return to USC for the program to retire his number, it will be to play for interim head coach Thomas Brown. The Bears fired Matt Eberflus on Friday after he failed to bail Williams out of a jam in the final minute against the Lions on Thursday and the clock ran out with a timeout still in hand.
It's difficult to estimate exactly how much the Eberflus effect hindered Williams after general manager Ryan Poles made what he believed to be a franchise-shifting move drafting him No. 1 overall.
The former Bears coach had zero experience developing a quarterback, and Justin Fields looked decidedly better the moment he got away from him. The offensive coordinator he hired to shepherd Williams through his entry to the NFL, Shane Waldron, was fired after nine games. And throughout his three seasons, Eberflus never seemed to have a handle on the offense.
Furthermore, had he not botched the final sequences against the Commanders, Packers and Lions — all of which squandered fantastic comeback charges by Williams — the Bears’ outlook would look much different. Williams already would have a league-wide reputation for ice-cold confidence in clutch moments, the Bears would be 7-5 and Eberflus would still have a job.
So while there are concerns about the upheaval of changing coaches during Williams’ first season, it wasn’t going great as it was.
Williams’ resurgence over the last three games seemed to have a lot to do with Brown, and little to nothing to do with Eberflus. For example, one of the Day 1 changes Brown made, which Williams shouted out after their first game together, was getting play calls in faster. That’s basic and obvious, and if it was a problem under Waldron, why didn’t Eberflus demand he correct it?
In three games with Brown as offensive coordinator, Williams completed 64.1% of his passes, averaged 275.7 yards per game, threw for five touchdowns with no interceptions and compiled a 99.2 passer rating. Unlike his hot streak early in the season against inferior opponents, he put up those numbers against the Packers, Vikings and Lions — all top-10 in fewest points allowed and in the top half of the NFL in opponent passer rating.
When asked last week if he would’ve been better off having started his career with Brown as his coordinator instead of Waldron, Williams pushed back at first, but said, “Being able to have these efficient games... If we were able to do that a little sooner, it would have helped all of us.”
There is potential risk in tinkering with anything that’s working for Williams at the moment, but a source said Brown met with Bears management Friday and laid out a convincing plan for maintaining what he has established with Williams while taking on extra responsibility as head coach.
The Williams element of that is the priority. The Bears have gone nowhere in the first season of his five-year rookie contract, which is a precious window to make a run at championship contention.
Poles knows it well. He was with the Chiefs when Patrick Mahomes won a Super Bowl in the third season of his rookie deal and keeps a replica of that Lombardi Trophy behind his desk as a reminder of his ambition. The Bears are miles away from goal right now, but Williams can move them closer to it by finishing with a flourish.
