Caleb Williams is unique — but he's just what the Bears have been searching for
With unconventional flair, Caleb Williams brings hope to the Chicago Bears' quarterback woes.
Caleb Williams isn’t the spitting image of a franchise quarterback.
The flamboyant, flair-filled passer paints his nails. Sometimes, specifically for football games. Pink, gold and other colors, logos and numbers — there aren’t limitations for what he’ll paint. Against Notre Dame and Utah, he inscribed “F—k ND” and “F—k Utah.” He stamped the same message for UCLA.
He posed in a red shirt and skirt that resembled a dress for a GQ photoshoot and he cried in the arms of his mother in the stands following USC’s 52-42 loss to Washington this past season.
Williams is much different than previous college quarterbacks entering the NFL. Firstly, he comes from a society that increasingly embraces diversity — though there is a wealth of drawbacks in Williams’ case — allowing men to express their femininity without fear of stigma. He also comes from a completely different landscape of college football, spearheaded by NIL (Name, Image, Likeness). The former Trojan reportedly made nearly $10 million in NIL deals. He was a college football celebrity.
He’s unlike most prospects.
His goal isn’t.
It’s to win championships. He’s chasing immortality. He acknowledged that’s the only way to achieve it.
That’s what the Bears have been lacking.
A Trojan’s new quest to lead the Bears’ revival
Let’s go back to his days in Norman, Okla. The play was 4th and 1, Oklahoma’s ball on its own 46-yard line. The Sooners were leading the Kansas Jayhawks 28-23 with 3:26 left to play in the fourth quarter. Williams — before he transferred to Southern Cal. after his lone season with Oklahoma in 2021 as a freshman — takes the shotgun snap and turns to his right. It’s an inside run. Running back Kennedy Brooks plunges up the middle and spins to his right, bouncing off a block. He’s then immediately stonewalled by a Kansas defender. It looks like a lost play. But after Brooks backpedals three yards trying to escape the sudden swarm of Jayhawks, Williams rips the ball from Brooks’ clutching tuck and sprints four yards for the first down. Cameras cut to Kanas linebacker Rich Miller Jr., who tackled Williams, and his expression was the same as the adoring crowd’s.
Complete disbelief.
Despite his outlandish nature, it’s easy to see why the Bears expended the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Williams. Underneath the nail polish, chic attire and Hollywood glam, he’s a playmaker. He can exhaust any down and he throws a football better than most, spinning it from all sorts of arm angles. He turns garbage into gold with the touch of his manicured hands.
Williams may not have the All-American, franchise-QB look, but he has franchise-QB intangibles. He exudes confidence and boasts swagger. Those are the types of players that succeed in the NFL. One’s that know they’re the best at their respective position.
Now, he’s tasked to lead the Bears’ revival, a feat their recent quarterbacks succumbed to.
In 2017, the Bears traded up from No. 3 to No. 2. They moved up one spot with the San Fransico 49ers in the first round to select North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky, passing on the active GOAT, Patrick Mahomes, who was drafted just eight picks later. If you’re unaware of how Trubisky’s time in Chicago played out, let me put it this way: He wasn’t great.
Fast forward to the 2023 NFL season. Two years after the Bears selected him No. 11 overall in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, trading up nine spots from No. 20 to do so, Justin Fields was ready to prove himself to the believing city of Chicago. He said he’d be the first QB in Bears history to throw for 4,000 yards.
He fell 1,438 yards short.
For context, Fields missed four games with a dislocated shoulder, but his season pace was still shy of the 4,000 mark.
The Bears’ last playoff appearance was in 2020, and their last playoff win was in 2011. They now hold the longest playoff-winless streak in the NFC North, a division that ushered two playoff teams last season: the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
In comes the eccentric Williams. Without playing a single snap yet, he’s a breath of fresh air for Chicago. Somehow, there’s just a feeling the former Trojan will hit, catalyzing a resurgence the storied franchise hoped it would get with its former first-round quarterbacks.
The term “generational” is used loosely nowadays, but in Williams’ case, he may be the closest thing to it we’ve seen in a while. He’s even received comparisons to Kansas City’s star, Mahomes.
"You don't want to compare somebody to the best player on the planet,” NFL Draft Analyst Daniel Jeremiah said, “But just in terms of how (Williams) kind of plays, with the creativity and a little flair and all the different throws he can make in terms of driving the ball, layering the ball, extending plays, all those things, there are similarities there.”
"There's pieces that are similar," Bears GM Ryan Poles said at the NFL combine."Obviously, the one stands out to everyone is just different arm angles. That's a unique trait, not a lot of guys can do that."
Talent paired with passion is typically a recipe for success. Chicago has been searching every nook and cranny for that recipe.
It seems they finally found it.
Since being drafted by the Bears, Williams curls his fingers to form the shape of a bear claw at the sight of a camera. He leaves press conferences with a new signature signoff: “Da Bears!” Sometimes, he says it with a smile, other times, he says it emotionless. Before scheduled Rookie Minicamp and OTA’s began, he orchestrated throwing sessions with the Bears’ revamped wide receiver room that now features a trio of DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and No. 9 pick Rome Odunze.
When asked on draft night why he’s the right person to change the fate of Chicago, Williams responded with, “Cause I care.”
The Bears believe Williams is the one that will break the cycle. Sure, he’s unconventional. But he’s as talented and passionate as they come.