By Everett Munez
Medill Reports
When Caleb Williams walks onto the grass at Soldier Field, he won’t be following in the footsteps of greatness.
The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner out of USC and the Bears top pick in the 2024 NFL draft follows a long history of disappointment at quarterback. The 104-year-old franchise is one of two NFL teams without a 4,000-yard single-season passer and has started 29 different quarterbacks since 2000.
Excited, yet exhausted, Bears fans traveled to Detroit to watch their team select Williams with the No. 1 overall pick on April 25. Excited because Williams might help their struggling team finally turn the corner. Exhausted because they have seen this story before.
“The Bears are where quarterbacks go to die,” said Mark Gizynski, 40, a Bears fan from Des Plaines who made the trip to Detroit.
That might be what makes Williams’ job so difficult: He has to contend with history.
“I would trade my niece right now (for Williams to win a Super Bowl with the Bears),” said Mike Carollo, wearing a modified Justin Fields jersey with his 13-month-old niece in his arms. “I’ve been alive for 33 years and haven’t seen a Super Bowl.”
During the offseason, the Bears traded Fields, whom they drafted in the first round in 2021. Fields threw 40 touchdowns in his Chicago career, but also 30 interceptions. He was dead-last in quarterback rating in 2021 and 23rd in his 2023 season.
Despite the passing struggles, Fields dazzled many Chicago fans with his feet. In 2022, he rushed for the second-most yards by a quarterback in a single season, trailing only Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson in his 2019 MVP campaign.
But Fields’ game divided the fanbase. On X, formerly known as Twitter, it was a battle between fans who wanted to extend Fields and those who wanted to move on to Williams. Critics called attention to Williams for crying after losses and for painting his nails.
“Who cares?” said Ted Lajil, 37, a longtime Chicago sports fan from Roscoe Village. “We had Jim McMahon. He did all kinds of ridiculous stuff. Nobody cared. We had Dennis Rodman (on the Bulls). Nobody cared 20 years ago, and we’re 20 years down the line. Let’s move on.”
Lajil said he believes Williams will help the Bears break free from the historical shackles of their poor quarterback play. Bears general manager Ryan Poles went to work improving the offense this offseason. With the ninth pick in the draft, Poles selected receiver Rome Odunze, who joins DJ Moore and offseason acquisition Keenan Allen, who both finished top 11 in receiving yards last season.
Poles also invested in a new running back, signing free agent D’Andre Swift, who rushed for the fifth-most yards in the NFL last season with the Philadelphia Eagles. Swift joins a team that finished second in the league in rushing yards in 2023.
With these additions, it appears Poles is inserting the rookie Williams into a team in win-now mode.
These moves come at a time when the Bears have to compete in one of the strongest divisions in the NFL. The Lions tied for the best regular-season record in the NFC last season on their way to an NFC championship game appearance. The Packers, a team that has a 10-game winning streak against the Bears, made the playoffs behind an impressive season by quarterback Jordan Love.
The Minnesota Vikings are a bit of a wild card; just two seasons ago, they won the division. Now, they’ve given Justin Jefferson, one of the best receivers in the league, a new quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, who is coming off a national championship victory with Michigan.
But Williams won’t just be competing against other teams in the NFL. He will also be competing against a worn out fanbase.
“If he doesn’t throw a touchdown with his first pass, he’s a bust,” Gizynski said.
There are some fans willing to give him more time to develop.
“Let’s have a little patience for the kid,” Lajil said. “Let him come out and learn the game. If he doesn’t come out and throw for 4,000 yards in his first year, he’s not a failure.”
But after his post-draft interview, it seems Williams is embracing those high expectations from Bears fans.
“My last goal is immortality,” Williams told reporters. “The only way to reach that is winning championships.”
Everett Munez is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow him on X and LinkedIn.
