As expected, the Chicago Bears have selected USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. With the selection of Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy Award winner and arguably one of the most talented quarterback prospects in the long history of college football, Bears general manager Ryan Poles has put an end to a two-year-long organizational overhaul, and officially marked the beginning of a new era of football in Chicago.

There is now legitimate reason to believe that brighter days may be ahead in The Windy City. A whole bunch of winning seasons may be ahead, and potentially even the franchise's first Super Bowl title since the '85 Bears may indeed be ahead.

The mythology of the Bears, the “Monsters of the Midway,” has been built on a lineage of both broad-shouldered linebackers who strike fear in opponents, and running backs who carried both the ball and the burden of propping up otherwise subpar Bears offenses on their shoulders. Bronko Nagurski. George Connor. Dick Butkus. Gale Sayers. Walter Payton. Mike Singletary. Brian Urlacher. All Hall of Famers who have in their own unique way come to personify The City of Big Shoulders over the years.

But now, the newest member of the Bears is someone who will be required to carry the weight of the entire city on his shoulders, and unlike the legends who have come before him, he's playing the sport's most important position… a position which the Bears have been waiting for decades to be occupied by a big-shouldered superstar.

Name any iconic quarterback who has stepped on the field over the last three decades, and at some point over the course of the last two years, some facet of their game has likely been compared to Caleb Williams. That's simply too much for this brain to handle after watching quarterbacks like Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, Jim Miller, Cade McNown and literally dozens of others in that mold struggle to be even succeed as a game-manager for the Bears. He has even been compared to the legendary music icon Prince.

Caleb Williams-Patrick Mahomes comparisons

Three-time Super Bowl champion and undisputed “Best Football Player Alive” Patrick Mahomes is the most common comparison you'll hear for Caleb Williams, and if you'd be kind enough to check out the videos below, it's easy to understand why:

The improvisational genius. The arm strength. The touch. The mobility. The uncanny feel for the game. Again, everything that Caleb Williams brings to the table is almost too much for this simple brain to handle.

The Bears still have work left to do from a roster-building perspective. They have limited picks to work with as things stand right now in the 2024 NFL Draft, but Ryan Poles and co. may find a way to turn their remaining three picks into more than just three picks. Once the draft is over, this team that suddenly looks so competent on paper will need to prove that they've got what it takes on gameday, so that the days of consistently finishing near the bottom of the NFC North are a thing of the past.

This of course will likely come down to how good Caleb Williams is right away. But again, this isn't a position Bears fans are used to being in. The words hope and optimism aren't typically synonymous with the Chicago Bears. But suddenly, they are.

Are there legitimate Caleb Williams concerns?

Be advised, even though the hope and optimism is warranted, Caleb Williams will look like a rookie. He'll have some games and make some throws that cause us to question if this is actually the guy. And subpar play will inevitably result in all of those concerns that some folks around the NFL have about Williams right now coming to the forefront during the season. Yes, Caleb Williams is a brand. Yes, Caleb Williams has expressed his emotions in ways that not all athletes do. Yes, Caleb Williams paints his fingernails. Yes, Caleb Williams fires back at haters on social media.

Ultimately, do those things matter when he can toss the pigskin around the field with such precision and flair that the primary pro comparison for him is arguably the most talented quarterback of all time? Do those things matter when just about everyone within the Bears organization agrees that there are no major character issues to be concerned with? Do those things matter when we're dealing with a guy whose motivation is to win eight Super Bowl rings? What's wrong with a guy being authentically himself? And what's wrong with a rookie playing like a rookie?

Nothing. The answer to each of those questions is nothing. 

It is worth having a conversation about how Caleb Williams will acclimate to the NFL, and that's not just because there are some minor issues that some scouts have identified with his game, like his size and his willingness/ability to play within a structured offense, that could prove to be hiccups along the way. Neither of these two things stand out as too problematic to me. We've seen smaller quarterbacks than Williams have a tremendous amount of success in the NFL, and it's not as if Williams is frail or slightly built. There's enough tape out there to see that Williams has the strength to shrug off tacklers who weren't able to get clean hits on him.

Caleb Williams is poised to be a star

As for Williams' tendency to play pick-up ball, an early critique of Patrick Mahomes was that Mahomes strayed outside the structure of the Chiefs' offense too often. He was a little too bold and a little too eager to make the home run throw a little to often… understandable given his unbelievable ability to do so. But in short time, Mahomes has not only corrected this perceived “short-coming.” He has made it a strength.

Mahomes turning into a patient, stay-within-the-structure-of-the-offense quarterback has turned out to be his superpower. Unlocking that, while still being able to uncork the kind of throws that go viral on social media is why we talk about Mahomes like he's already an all-time great who is Canton-bound, even though he's probably just now entering the peak of his NFL career.

The acclimation that's more concerning has to do with the fact that Caleb Williams is the first mega-star of the NIL Era to make the jump from the NCAA to the NFL, and in that regard, he truly is an unprecedented prospect. In theory, this shouldn't be too much of an issue. Williams is already accustomed to having a healthy bank account, media scrutiny, and plenty of off-field responsibilities that come with being the face of a franchise, or in his case at USC, the face of a prestigious collegiate program. But still, the unknown of how that will all translate to the NFL is a little worrisome.

The only thing legitimate concerns are whether Caleb Williams' shoulders are big enough to eventually carry this franchise, which has so much quarterback baggage. That should be the only concern that Bears fans have about this young man and about this team moving forward. Everything else that has to do with Caleb Williams is irrelevant. And everything else that doesn't have to do with Caleb Williams is falling neatly into place.