Training camp shows two key differences between Caleb Williams, Bears and other rookie QBs originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
LAKE FOREST, Ill. –General manager Ryan Poles has said the Bears hired him to “break the cycle.” The cycle is vicious, and countless past Bears regimes have tried and failed to find and develop a franchise quarterback.
It’s one thing to say you’re going to “break the cycle,” but concrete evidence is needed for it to be more than a line in a stump speech.
One of Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus’ first moves upon drafting quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in April was to ensure that line doesn’t ring hollow.
In a stark departure from what the Ryan Pace regime did with Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields, Poles and Eberflus immediately named Williams the starting quarterback and did not bring in an established veteran to challenge or push him.
It has been Williams’ show from the jump.
“No conversation. Hes the starter,” Eberflus said before the start of rookie minicamp.
“For me, its just believing in Caleb,” Eberflus later said at the start of Bears training camp. “Putting him in there and lets go. I think that the expectation is for him to be the starter. He is the starter when we drafted him and thats where we put him in; put him in the position to do that. And were going to do a great job of supporting him to get him ready for the first game.”
While the Pace regime initially gave Mike Glennon the nod over Trubisky and picked Andy Dalton over Fields, the current Bears are pouring all of their energy into developing and empowering Williams, who is the best chance they’ve ever had at finding a star quarterback.
It’s rare in the modern NFL for a quarterback picked in the first round not to be the Day 1 starter. Patience is scarce when jobs and futures are on the line.
But when the rest of the NFL teams reported to camp earlier this week, the Bears’ decision to immediately hand the keys to Williams turned out to be the outlier among the six teams who drafted a quarterback in the first round.
Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels and backup Marcus Mariota will split time with the first team to open camp.
“When he’s ready, we’ll know,” Quinn said of Daniels.
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo announced veteran Jacoby Brissett would be the starting quarterback but left room for No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye to pass him.
The Minnesota Vikings plan to give veteran Sam Darnold most of the first-team reps in camp, with No. 10 overall pick J.J. McCarthy getting a little work.
Denver Broncos rookie Bo Nix will open camp in a completion with Zach Wilson and Jarrett Stidham, while No. 8 overall pick Michael Penix Jr. will be the backup behind Kirk Cousins in Atlanta.
The Bears’ offseason quarterback quest began with questions about Williams, whether he’d want to play in Chicago, and whether or not the Bears preferred him over Daniels, Maye, and McCarthy.
There was never really a question.
The Bears viewed Williams’ talent as head-and-shoulder above the rest of the class, and they quickly put all their pre-draft focus into the USC star after their initial meeting at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The start of training camp has, at the very least, highlighted the gap between Williams’ readiness and the rest of the class — it’s not like the Patriots are dying to start Brissett or Sean Payton is thrilled about Wilson — and also shows that the Bears, for once, have their finger on the pulse of how to develop a rookie quarterback properly.
They have the more talented prospect and the better plan to ensure this rare opportunity breeds the success they have been chasing for decades.
Its really just to maximize his ability,” Poles said of expectations for Williams in Year 1. “I think I want to see just leaning on the talent around him as well. I think its got to be comforting to know you dont have to do everything on your own, which makes it a pretty good situation for a young quarterback. Theres going to be adversity, and I just want to see him lean on all of us to get through those moments, and then when youre clicking and in the zone that those high moments are high and we just continue to learn and continue to get better every single week and every single day.”
For once, the Bears have the right player and plan at the sport’s most important position. It’s about time.
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