It's no secret that the Chicago Bears are a franchise that has been haunted by its inability to find a star quarterback, a curse that Bears fans hoped was reversed on April 25th — the day that Caleb Williams became a Chicago Bear. Still, for as easy as it is to be optimistic about how the Caleb Williams era might go, seven decades of quarterback ineptitude make it really tough to breathe too easy. But on Saturday, during Williams' home preseason debut, it took just one throw to give fans in the Windy City the moment that they've long been waiting for… the moment they could finally exhale.
Every angle of Caleb Williams’ jaw-dropping throw to Rome Odunze. 🔥 (via NFL)
With a rolling left dime down the sideline — the type of throw that only opposing quarterbacks have made inside of Soldier Field — to fellow rookie 1st Round rookie Rome Odunze, Caleb Williams lifted a Willis Tower sized weight off the shoulders of Bears fans. After the game, Williams did acknowledge that the Bears could be a fireworks show in 2024, but the rookie quarterback wasn't going to get too caught up in the excitement of his first in-game connection with Odunze. Williams was still primarily concerned with getting enough reps in to catch up with the rest of the vets in Chicago.
“We're going to be explosive,” Williams said after the 27-3 win, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “We're two rooks, but we're trying to catch up to the old guys as fast as we can to make sure that we're right there on par with them to be able to be efficient, function, go out there and be explosive, be on the same page and win games. That's ultimately what we're here to do. Having a guy like that that was drafted with me, we're only going to keep growing and keep building this connection.”
Odunze, on the other hand, was a little more animated after the game while talking about the exciting deep ball connection.
“It's pretty unreal, honestly,” Odunze said after the game, per Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. “I just watched it back. He's throwing off one leg, putting it on my outside shoulder. It's like … ooh, it's magical what he's doing back there in the backfield. He's special.”
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Bears fans overjoyed as Caleb Williams' solid preseason continues
For all those who were concerned with Williams' NFL readiness, the preseason should have eased those worries. In just under three quarters of preseason action, Caleb Williams has been about as good as Bears fans could hope, putting on display a number of the traits that made him such an intriguing prospect to begin with. In 43 snaps against the Bills and Bengals, Williams has completed 10-of-20 passes for 170 yards, and ran the ball twice for 20 yards and a touchdown.
Before the preseason began, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus noted that he expected Williams to play about 50 preseason snaps. Given how impressive Williams has looked, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he and the Bears starters got only a drive, maybe two in Chicago's preseason finale against the Chiefs on Thursday night.
