Chicago Bears fans are in for a very long offseason.
This wasn't supposed to be the case, either. Not after selecting Caleb Williams with the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams was supposed to end the 'Chicago is where quarterbacks go to die' narrative. Instead, his roller-coaster rookie season stoked the flames.
Take the latest quarterback rankings from NFL.com, for example. Despite setting an NFL rookie record for the most consecutive passes without an interception and surviving the kind of team dysfunction that would ruin most quarterbacks, Williams was ranked in the bottom five.
Williams checked in at No. 27. For context, Anthony Richardson was No. 28, and Daniel Jones, yes, THAT Daniel Jones, was No. 29.
"There are two sides to Williams' rookie-season coin," NFL.com's Nick Shook wrote. "He clearly has incredible physical tools and an innate sense of the rush, which allows him to pull off some uncanny evasive maneuvers to keep plays alive before unleashing his rocket arm. But Williams' development seemed to be interrupted by the Bears' leaky offensive line and dysfunctional operation, which saw them fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, terminate coach Matt Eberflus, and leave Williams with an interim coach in Thomas Brown, who received two emergency promotions in the same season.
"Essentially, Williams was thrown into a situation that only offered occasional respite, and because of this, he developed a tendency to hold onto the ball too long, as if he were too fearful of turning the ball over to make a decision. He'll need to break that habit going forward, but the talent is clearly there. Hopefully, Chicago builds a better situation around him this offseason."
Look, no Bears fan would pound the table for Caleb Williams to have a top-10 ranking after the season he had. But there's no way he should only rank one slot ahead of Richardson, who played the 2024 season like a guy who will be out of the league in a couple of seasons.
And Daniel Jones? Only two spots behind Williams? That's just insulting. Jones was released by the Giants and held a clipboard for Sam Darnold during the last few weeks of the season. Yet, he nearly had the same ranking as Williams, who threw for the fifth-most yards in Bears team history.
Expectations were high for Williams in 2024, and he definitely fell short. But he wasn't a disaster, and he certainly wasn't one of the five worst quarterbacks in the NFL.
