The Bears can change coordinators and coaches and stadiums, but it won’t matter unless rookie quarterback Caleb Williams grows into a star. He remains the most important person at Halas Hall, and no one in that building has as much influence on the Bears’ future.
Williams’ development was always the most important thing about this season, but now it’s the only thing.
When he returns to the facility Monday after a free weekend that included a return to USC for the program to retire his number, it will be to play for interim head coach Thomas Brown. The Bears fired Matt Eberflus on Friday after he failed to bail Williams out of a jam in the final minute Thursday against the Lions and the clock expired with a timeout still in hand.
It’s difficult to estimate exactly how much the Eberflus effect hindered Williams after general manager Ryan Poles made what he thought to be a franchise-shifting move by drafting him No. 1 overall.
Eberflus had zero experience developing a quarterback, and Justin Fields looked decidedly better the moment he got away from him. The offensive coordinator he hired to shepherd Williams through his entry to the NFL, Shane Waldron, was fired after nine games. And throughout his three seasons, Eberflus never seemed to have a handle on the Bears’ offense.
Furthermore, had he not botched the final sequences against the Commanders, Packers and Lions — all of which squandered impressive comebacks led by Williams — the Bears’ outlook would be much different. Williams already would have a leaguewide reputation for ice-cold confidence in clutch moments, the Bears would be 7-5 and Eberflus still would have a job.
So while there are concerns about the upheaval of changing coaches in Williams’ first season, it wasn’t going great as it was.
Williams’ resurgence in the last three games seemed to have a lot to do with Brown and little to nothing to do with Eberflus. For example, one of the first changes Brown made — which Williams shouted out after their first game together — was getting play-calls in faster. That’s basic and obvious, and if it was a problem under Waldron, why didn’t Eberflus demand that he correct it?
In three games with Brown as offensive coordinator, Williams has completed 64.1% of his passes, averaged 275.7 passing yards, thrown for five touchdowns with no interceptions and compiled a 99.2 passer rating. Unlike his hot streak early in the season against inferior foes, he put up those numbers against the Packers, Vikings and Lions, all of whom are in the top 10 in the NFL in fewest points allowed and in the top half in opponent passer rating.
When he was asked last week whether he would’ve been better off having started his career with Brown as his coordinator instead of Waldron, Williams pushed back at first, then said: ‘‘Being able to have these efficient games . . . if we were able to do that a little sooner, it would have helped all of us.’’
There is potential risk in tinkering with anything that’s working for Williams at the moment, but a source said Brown met with Bears management Friday and laid out a convincing plan for maintaining what he has established with Williams while taking on the extra responsibility as head coach.
The Williams element of that is the priority. The Bears have gone nowhere in the first season of his five-year rookie contract, which is a precious window to make a run at championship contention.
Poles knows it well. He was with the Chiefs when Patrick Mahomes won a Super Bowl in the third season of his rookie deal and keeps a replica of that Lombardi Trophy behind his desk as a reminder of his ambition. The Bears are miles away from that goal right now, but Williams can move them closer to it by finishing the season with a flourish.