There has been limitless hype about Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ debut, but he might not be the star of the show Sunday against the Titans. The beauty of this roster is that he doesn’t need to be.
Williams must become a transformative force someday, the type of Mahomesian talent who can vault just about any wide receiver into Pro Bowl consideration, but that’s not necessary this early. The Bears have stacked up an impressive cast of skill players to give him margin as he finds his footing in the NFL.
“It’s amazing when you’ve got this many weapons and an offensive coordinator that knows how to dial up different plays for different skill sets,” wide receiver DJ Moore said. “We’ve got all these weapons. Everybody can’t just hone in on me.”
There was far too much of that with Moore last season as Darnell Mooney tapered off, Chase Claypool got booted from the building and no one else was good enough to divert attention from him. It’s a wonder Moore overcame that to put up career highs of 96 catches, 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns.
Before his arrival, everything ran through Mooney, and Allen Robinson was basically flying solo before that. This is the most extensive and diversified group the Bears have put together since they had Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett a decade ago.
Any of their top three wide receivers — Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze — could vie for a Pro Bowl selection. Same for tight end Cole Kmet and running back D’Andre Swift. Those are the headliners, but the Bears also have high-potential playmakers in reserve with running back Khalil Herbert, tight end Gerald Everett and wide receiver Tyler Scott.
As long as everybody’s on board with sharing, and it seems like they are, that creates a lot of options for Williams and a lot of opportunities for the offense. Moore, Allen and Kmet might not get the ball as often as they used to, but they could get a higher rate of return.
“Maybe you’re not getting as much of the target share, but your opportunity for explosive plays increases,” Kmet said. “Instead of always having two guys bracketed over DJ like last season, if [defenses] do that now, it gives opportunities to Keenan, Rome, myself, Gerald, Swift — all those guys.
“There’s just a lot of opportunities presented with that to have explosive plays. You’ll see an increase of that this season.”
Allen built a borderline Hall of Fame career as the dominant No. 1 option for the Chargers the last 11 years, but he’s ready to unload some of that responsibility. No player on the team had half his 150 targets last season, and that wasn’t even his career high. That might’ve been good for his production, but not the offense as a whole.
“I love it,” he said of the more balanced attack the Bears expect to have.
Even in a contract year?
“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, I’m not looking to make $35 million.”
It’s as if everybody is dead set on making this work for Williams. All he has to do is make good use of them.
He better maximize it because the roster won’t always be this way. Bears general manager Ryan Poles assembled this to give him ideal infrastructure, which is unheard of for a quarterback drafted high in the first round. Poles was able to do so because of the financial window that came with Williams’ rookie contract.
Eight quarterbacks have contracts worth $50 million or more per season, and another 11 cost their teams an average of at least $30 million. The Bears, meanwhile, are on the hook for just $9.9 million with Williams through 2027.
That leaves a ton of free money, and Poles pretty much spent it on a Corvette and handed Williams the keys. All he has to do is hit the gas.