The Chicago Bears are entering their bye week, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Injuries in the secondary began to pile up in the last week, with Jaquan Brisker, Tyrique Stevenson, and Kyler Gordon all being ruled out before or during Chicago's Week 6 win over Jacksonville. A week off will hopefully give these pivotal starters a chance to heal and be ready for their Week 8 matchup with the 4-2 Washington Commanders.
With this extra time off, let's take a look at how the rookies have fared so far. We'll start with the first overall pick, Caleb Williams.
A rough start rattled the fanbase.
For as much excitement that had been built up for the Bears and Caleb Williams in particular, his NFL debut could not have gone much worse than it did. Despite escaping with a win over the hapless Tennessee Titans, Williams threw for just 93 yards and no touchdowns while completing just 48% of his passes. It only got worse in Week 2 in primetime when a deadly Houston defense dismantled Chicago's offense to the tune of seven sacks and two interceptions and still no touchdowns.
Many Bears fans and NFL analysts immediately lost faith. They turned to fellow rookie Jayden Daniels, drafted one spot after Williams and who had put together a couple of respectable outings, and declared that the Bears had once again put their faith in the wrong quarterback. People even suggested that the Bears were wrong to draft a quarterback at all, pointing to Justin Fields and the Steelers starting the season 3-0.
Let's get one thing clear: this was always an ignorant take to have on the situation, even when Williams wasn't playing well. Careers are not written after two games. Even trying to begin an argument for taking Daniels at first overall instead of Williams, or keeping Fields, was a fool's endeavor so early on in the season. Looking back a month later, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see just how ridiculous these narratives were.
Has Williams 'arrived' in the NFL?
Six games is still a small sample size, and career progression is rarely linear, but I'm a big believer in trusting the process over results. In other words, if the operation looks good but the results still aren't quite what you want, then it's reasonable to believe that it's only going to get better. That's what I've seen with Williams so far. Even when they've lost games or when Williams has not played as well as he could have, his growth from week to week, even drive to drive, has been evident.
The footwork is clean. His pocket-awareness is excellent. He stays calm and goes through his reads. He climbs pockets instead of bailing to the sides. He runs a full NFL playbook as opposed to a gimmicky, college system. He's fully empowered to change plays at the line of scrimmage. It's all there for anyone to see.
So even when the results have been uneven, I've remained high on Williams' NFL potential. Watching him absolutely dominate these last two weeks only solidifies my outlook on him. Sure, it came against poor defenses but guess what? That's what great quarterbacks do! They demolish the bad teams and play toe-to-toe with the good ones. That's what Williams has done so far.
Williams is the first quarterback drafted first overall to win four of his first six starts and to win his first two home games. He's the first quarterback to throw four touchdowns in London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Williams has led the Bears to consecutive games of 35 or more points and five or more offensive touchdowns. The former has not happened since 2013 and the latter, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Potash, is a feat not seen in Chicago since 1956, back when the starting quarterback was Ed Brown.
The Eagle has landed. The Bears have scored five offensive touchdowns in back-to-back games for the first time since 1956, per @stathead.
— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) October 13, 2024
I believe Williams has arrived and that there's no looking back. He's on pace for 3,732 yards and 26 touchdowns, which would be one of the best quarterback seasons in franchise history. This six-week span will be the worst he'll ever be in the NFL, and that should be as exciting for Bears fans as it is terrifying for the rest of the NFC North.
As far as living up to the hype, that's a question that can't be answered until the Bears have a chance to bring home a Super Bowl championship, which may come sooner than many think.
Grade: A-
