It's, once again, a new era in Chicago. After Justin Fields played six games — and lost them all — against the Green Bay Packers, the Bears took Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in this year's draft to try to revamp the franchise.
If Williams' predecessor didn't have success against the Packers, the rookie will have plenty of time to acclimate himself to the NFL before facing the Bears' biggest rival. And that's something Packers edge defender Rashan Gary mentioned on the Rich Eisen Show.
That's because the Packers and Bears won't face off until week 11, right after Green Bay's bye week.
"At that time of the season, we'll have some good tape on him," Gary mentioned. "Understanding how the Bears want to run their offense through him, or if they're going to be pass-heavy by that time or run-heavy by that time. So we're going to understand and have a better feel (for Caleb Williams) than we would, you know, Week 1. Getting more trick plays, things like that.
While Rashan Gary jokingly admitted he would love to present Williams a "welcome to the NFL" moment, he showed respect to what the quarterback has done.
"From what I can see from college," Gary pointed out, "great arm, great vision."
The first Packers-Bears game of the season will be at Soldier Field. The second one can be even more important, since it will be a week 18 game at Lambeau Field.
Gary has played nine games against the Bears in his career. And it's wild, because the Packers won all these games — the current overall win streak is at 10. Individually, though, Gary's numbers aren't that impressive. He's had just two sacks and 20 tackles against Chicago.
Caleb Williams will be the third Bears attempt to find a franchise quarterback since Rashan Gary was drafted by the Packers in 2019. At that time, the Bears had Mitchell Trubisky under center — he had been the second overall pick in 2017. In 2021, Chicago traded up to the 11th overall pick to select Justin Fields, who played the last three seasons with the Bears and was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason.
Now, with the pick they received from the Carolina Panthers in a trade last year, the Bears drafted Caleb Williams — undoubtedly, the best prospect among all these three players.
In 2024, the Bears will also have a new offensive system. The team replaced Luke Getsy, a former Packers assistant, with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who led the Seattle Seahawks' offense for the past three seasons.
