Bear Digest

Choice for Bears Shouldn't Be a Tough One

Analysis: When Caleb Williams is being compared to the game's best QB and Justin Fields has problems in fourth quarters, what's the issue?

Gene Chamberlain

Choice for Bears Shouldn't Be a Tough One
Choice for Bears Shouldn't Be a Tough One /
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The big concern among Bears fans, especially supporters of Justin Fields, is whether Caleb Williams is actually going to be an upgrade should the Bears select him.

They see their own quarterback from a winning college program who has gradually improved each of his three years without becoming a huge success as a passer. Now they finally see him backed by a strong defense and believe he'd make the great strides they hoped for all along.

The Bears are going to dump this possible future for a rookie who might be overrated as far as anyone knows?

It's a classic case of being comfortable with mediocrity.

The Bears could draft Williams and if he bombs out, then Fields goes on to great success elsewhere, it could be even worse than the Mitchell Trubisky/Patrick Mahomes debacle.

Besides running for some touchdowns and leading the Bears to four wins in his last seven starts, Fields hasn't really done anything to indicate he's a winner in his three years of play. He had a 53.4 passer rating in fourth quarters and 51.1% completions then. You can only blame his pass blocking for so long and then Tyson Bagent comes in and has a  sacks percentage 7% lower than Fields did, and more targets are catching passes.

 Along comes a quarterback who is being compared to Mahomes by everyone from his own coaches, to scouts, to Snoop Dogg of all people. 

Realize this: Williams is not being compared to some good NFL quarterbacks or possible could be this or that. He's being mentioned in the same breath with the very best quarterback in football. It's often said a QB is generational but how many times is it said that a quarterback is as good specifically as the very best?

SI's Albert Breer pulled out the Kliff Kingsbury card during an interview for CHGO.

"Kliff loves, loves, loves, loves Caleb Williams," Breer said. "Kliff said to me on the record that the comparisons to he and Patrick Mahomes are eerie. It's eerie how similar they are."

Coaches will always back their players but making comparisons to all-time great quarterbacks so boldly is another thing entirely. Any coach would worry about putting excessive pressure on a player with such a statement.

Among Williams' former coaches, it's not just Kingsbury who sees this.

"What Patrick's done, it's a lofty comparison," said Williams' head coach Lincoln Riley during an appearance on NFL Network this week. "There's no question. I think he's in a class of his own right now. But Caleb certainly has the ability to do some special things. And there are a lot of things that they do that are very similar. Their creativity, the athleticism, the throwing off different platforms, all the different arm angles, you know, they’re both able to do anything that they want physically and there’s not many people like that.

"Patrick has played a lot of ball and Patrick has continued to improve throughout his career. And if Caleb can do the same thing, he'll have a chance to have a great impact on the league."

Riley made it clear how special the opportunity is for the Bears.

"I would take him No. 1," Riley said. "I promise you that."

Former NFL backup quarterback Jordan Palmer, a Bears backup half of 2013 and a director of QB development for the XFL, agrees. During a Fox News interview, Palmer made a bolder statement than anyone backing up his own assessments made during Williams' college career.

"I said it then (when Williams was in college), and I've never said it about anyone else: That's the best kid I’ve ever seen," Palmer told Fox News Digital. "I know when I say those things out loud it can carry some weight, so I don't throw that around a lot. I'm not the over-hyper."

He also saw the obvious similarity to Mahomes' style.

"Talent and ability, yeah, he's on a faster trajectory toward that than Patrick was," Palmer told Fox. "Because Patrick was at Texas Tech having to score 45 points just to come close to winning a game. (Tech) not playing any defense, not playing any big, relevant games.

"I'm one of the few people that watched all of Patrick Mahomes' college games and went to a couple. Nobody else was. Nobody knew who he was."

Then there is the Dogg, señor Snoop. The all-purpose entertainer, football hobbyist and youth coach brought up perhaps the most relevant bit of information regarding the comparison of the two when he was on the Pat McAfee Show last week.

"I love to see what he's gonna do at the NFL level," Dogg said. "He reminds me so much of Patrick Mahones.

"I just hope that he gets the right system, the right coach and the right situation like C.J. Stroud got. Im looking at C.J. like that's how you're supposed to come out as a rookie. ... It's always about the system and the coach."

The Bears have to hope they provide the support system. It's alway been a problem but they just brought in the offensive coaches they think can handle this.

ESPN's Adam Schefter made a bold statement of believe—not reporting—on Tuesday when he said he thought the Bears wanted to take Williams rather than trade back.

This followed up on very similar comments like those made by Breer and Tom Peliserro of NFL Network on the weekend.

If the Bears want to take Williams and so many comparisons are being made to not just a good NFL quarterback but to the very best, then why would they ever even balk.

The other option is a lesser college quarterback without the rave reviews or the current starter with a 10-28 record as starter and season's best passer rating of 86.3.

It's going to have to be an awfully big offer from the Commanders for the Bears give away rights to the No. 1 pick.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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