The Bears finally have “that guy” in quarterback Caleb Williams.
At least they think they have that guy.
Don’t they?
“From what little I have watched, and just from hearing from people that have seen him week in and week out, what I hear is he doesn’t make the routine play as often as he should make it,” one critic told the Sun-Times.
Well, there is Williams’ 58.1% completion rate last season to think about. It was down from his rookie number — 62.5% — which wasn’t all the great itself. Sure, one supposes the megatalented 24-year-old could be a bit more accurate.
“Like a guy wide-open — you don’t miss a guy wide-open,” the critic said.
But Williams made so many epic throws last season, particularly on broken plays, it’s kind of easy to overlook the plays he didn’t make — and, yeah, there were lots of them — within the regular flow of the offense. Not that big a deal when you’re pulling out the “W” in the end, is it?
“You gotta make routine plays routine,” the critic said. “It shouldn’t even be a thought. Then you wouldn’t have to do the theatrical parts at the end of the game to try to win. You do the routine [expletive] during the game, and you’re probably sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter — the game’s over.”
Man, this critic had some opinions.
Should we out him?
Fine — it was Jim McMahon, the only Super Bowl-winning Bears quarterback.
“Look, there’s no knock,” McMahon told the Sun-Times a few weeks after the Bears lost a 20-17 heartbreaker to the Rams in an NFC divisional playoff game at snowy Soldier Field. “You keep making routine plays with the cast that he has around him — routine plays that are going to get you where you want to go — and then when you have to make the spectacular play, he’s able to do that because of his athleticism.”
Debating the merits of Williams is a fun thing to do because — we can all agree — he has so many of them. He might have the most physical talent of any quarterback to put on a Bears uniform. He seems to have the determination and confidence required to become great. He certainly has the clutch gene. Add the impacts of offensive-oriented coach Ben Johnson and a front office that’s prioritizing offense like few, if any, Bears teams have before, and it doesn’t take a blue-and-orange-goggled fan to see a potential superstar at arguably the most important position in sports.
Then again, what would Chicago know about superstar QBs?
Here’s to Sid Luckman
The most prominent Bear of the team’s greatest decade — the 1940s — won four NFL championships, was a five-time first-team All-Pro, led the league in passing yards and touchdowns multiple times and made the Hall of Fame. The Bears’ most accomplished QB ever? Discussion over.
But since then … oof. It ain’t pretty, folks. The Bears have an infamous history at the position — maybe the worst of any NFL franchise — and they’ve earned it.
They had a major celebrity in McMahon, the “Punky QB,” who was drafted in the first round in 1982, won all the marbles in 1985 and finished his time in Chicago with a lopsided win-loss record of 46-15 as a starter. But McMahon had a hard time staying healthy, and even when good to go he was far from prolific. Those Bears had Walter Payton to run the ball, stone-cold killers on defense and a coach, Mike Ditka, who was as at ease with opening up the passing game as he was with singing during the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field.
Another way to frame McMahon’s performance: In 66 games as a Bear, he threw for 11,203 yards and 67 touchdowns. Decades later, first-round bust Mitch Trubisky would throw for 10,609 yards and 64 touchdowns in only 51 games. McMahon was miles better than Trubisky, no doubt, but there’s also the context of some 70 years of organization futility under center.
The NFL began tracking quarterback wins as a stat in 1950, too late for Luckman. Since that time, the Bears’ leader in the category is Jay Cutler. That it’s Cutler isn’t entirely surprising given he was their No. 1 guy from 2009 until the injury that ended his 2016 season five games in. But the polarizing Cutler was known for his big arm and his sullen attitude far more than he was for winning — the Bears were 51-51 in his starts — and 51 QB wins is a hilariously puny figure for a franchise leader.
Cutler was a talented thrower and a tough runner who, despite twice leading the NFL in interceptions, still leads the Bears by a long stretch in yards (23,443) and touchdowns (154). But his time with the Bears would be a footnote in most other places.
Tom Brady had 219 QB wins with the Patriots, who also had Steve Grogan (75) and Drew Bledsoe (63). The Dolphins had Dan Marino (147) and Bob Griese (92). The 49ers had Joe Montana (100), Steve Young (91) and John Brodie (74). The Steelers had Ben Roethlisberger (165) and Terry Bradshaw (107). The Packers had Brett Favre (160), Aaron Rodgers (147) and Bart Starr (94). It goes on and on.
The Cowboys have five with more QB wins than Cutler had here: Troy Aikman (94), Roger Staubach (85), Dak Prescott (83 and counting), Tony Romo (78) and Danny White (62). Even the division rival Lions and Vikings have richer histories than the Bears at the position. Detroit has seen Matthew Stafford (74) and Bobby Layne (53), and current starter Jared Goff (48) should blow by Cutler’s mark this season. Minneapolis can boast at least a little of having Fran Tarkenton (91) and Tommy Kramer (54).
Perhaps Williams will play and thrive here long enough to hit triple digits in QB wins someday. That’s the dream. If he gets there, he’ll likely surpass 4,000 passing yards in a season multiple times along the way. As it stands, though, the Bears are the only NFL team yet to have a 4,000-yard passer since the league moved to a 16-game schedule in 1978. Williams got to 3,942 last season, eclipsing Erik Kramer’s 30-year-old Bears record of 3,838.
“I’m proud that it stood up for that long,” Kramer told the Sun-Times. “Joe Montana didn’t have a 4,000-yard season. Roger Staubach didn’t. Terry Bradshaw didn’t. Why that became the standard, I don’t know.”
Of the nine quarterbacks the Bears have made first-round draft picks — starting with Luckman in 1939 — five came in between McMahon and Williams. Jim Harbaugh, pick No. 26 in 1987, had a QB record of 35-30 as a Bear. Cade McNown, the 12th pick in 1999, was a 3-12 all-time bust. Rex Grossman, taken 22nd in 2003, went 19-12 — a million thank-yous, 2006 defense — and got all the way to a Super Bowl. Justin Fields, No. 11 in 2021, left with a record of 10-28.
It’s almost amazing, in hindsight, to remember all the public debate about whether the Bears should stick with Fields or trade him and draft Williams. Such folly, indeed.
Williams is better than three Grossmans
Not to pick on anyone, but imagine how current coach Johnson would flip out over Grossman’s 54.6% completion rate (28th in the league), 73.9 rating (24th), 20 interceptions and eight fumbles in 2006. But, hey, those Bears were 13-3 and nearly went all the way. So what if it ended up being Grossman’s only full season as QB1 out of his six in Chicago?
“I had a lot of ups, a lot of downs, some injuries, went to the Super Bowl, got benched, came back,” Grossman said on a Barstool podcast this year. “I made a ton of money; I had so much fun; I played in the Super Bowl. Everybody can say whatever the [expletive] you want to say, I still had the best six years of my life. You would do it if you could do it. I loved it.”
Longevity at QB has been a near-constant issue for the Bears. There is no better comparison than the one with the bleepin’ Packers.
In the third game of 1992, the Packers’ then-starter, Don Majkowski, got hurt. Enter Brett Favre, who would start 13 times that year and every game to come until the 2007 season was over. From then through 2022, it would be all Aaron Rodgers except for the scattered occasions when a total of four other Packers were forced into starting duty. That’s a 31-season run with two stars and a handful of meaningless cameos.
The Bears, on the other hand, started 19 quarterbacks just from 1992 to 2008, preceding Cutler’s arrival. From Cutler’s time through 2022, there were 16 more. Thirty-five starters in 31 years is beyond absurd. It’s stultifying and tragic.
Ah, our Bears. What strange history.
A curious enough, strange enough person could sift through an all-time list of Bears quarterbacks, pick a few at random and discover God only knows what. That’s the plan right now, anyway. Here goes.
Milton Romney (1926-28): You know you’re already asking, and the answer is Mitt Romney’s father’s cousin. Suffice it to say, the Miltster isn’t enshrined in Canton, Ohio.
Bernie Masterson (1934-40): Let’s just say he never quite mastered the forward pass.
Johnny Lujack (1948-51): The Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame played defensive back and had eight interceptions as a rookie. A year later, he led the NFL in all major passing categories. He started two more seasons after that, with Luckman — and George Blanda — behind him. Not bad.
Jack Concannon (1967-71): The Bears traded Ditka to the Eagles for him, just in time for him to start in Halas’ final season as coach. Also: great name for a QB.
Rick Mirer (1997): The Bears traded a first-round pick for the 1993 No. 2 overall pick by the Seahawks from Notre Dame, gave him a three-year deal, watched him start three games — six INTs, no TDs — and released him at the end of the season. Good times.
Mike Glennon (2017): Never mind. It’s still too soon.
No more sifting, then. Whose bad idea was it to do that? It probably would’ve been better to just skip straight ahead to Williams. No, not Bob (1951-55). Caleb. “The Iceman,” if you prefer. The present and future.
Save us all, kid. We’ve suffered enough.
