On Sunday, Caleb Williams did the near-impossible.
He quarterbacked a Bears franchise once synonymous with offensive ineptitude to 59 points in their season opening win against the Panthers. He became the first quarterback in the 106-year history of his team to both post a passer rating above 124 and rush for 65 yards. And he completed 72 percent of his passes, clearing coach Ben Johnson’s lofty standard of 70.
Along the way, he accomplished one of the most difficult things in sports — he lived up to the hype.
From the moment Williams lofted his answered prayer to Cole Kmet — in a playoff game the Bears lost to the Rams — the quarterback has been pegged by many for sudden stardom. EA Sports put him on their “Madden” cover. Hallmark put him in their Bears movie. He became so ubiquitous that at least one coach, the Jaguars’ Liam Coen, complained.
Despite Williams never even been elected to a Pro Bowl, he became a trendy offseason pick to win MVP — and, fair or not, was bound to be judged by that standard Week 1. Sunday, amazingly, he didn’t nothing to dispel the notion he could win it. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a time in modern NFL history when a Bears quarterback has seemed more likely to contend for the MVP.
Fans waking up morning found Williams with the fourth-best odds to win the MVP, behind only the Bills’ Josh Allen, the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and the Bengals’ Joe Burrow. Even with two quarterbacks in the league yet to play at that point — the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Broncos’ Bo Nix were slated for a Monday night clash — that’s a staggering place for Williams to land. He has 9:1 odds to win it.
It’s early — perhaps way-too-early — for Bears fans to dream of their first NFL MVP since Walter Payton in 1977. But it’s at least possible.
First impressions matter. Here’s how the favorites for MVP fared in Week 1:
• Allen had the best win of any quarterback all weekend, leading the Bills to a road victory against a Texans defense that was the best in the AFC last year. He did it in dramatic fashion, too, taking possession at his own 4 with 3:14 left and the Bills trailing by one. it took him just seven plays to march 96 yards, throwing a 34-yard touchdown to Joshua Palmer that proved to be the game-winner. The former MVP winner finished with a 130.5 passer rating, the third-best among all quarterbacks entering Monday night’s game.
• Jackson threw for 324 yards and ran for 40 more, scoring one touchdown each through the air and on the ground, in his Week 1 win at Indianapolis. In their first game under play-caller Declan Doyle, who served as Johnson’s coordinator last season, the Colts scored 41 points. Among all teams that played through Sunday, only Johnson’s Bears scored more. Jackson has won two MVPs in his career.
• The Bengals were perhaps the trendiest pick to flip their record from last season after going 6-11 and posting a historically terrible defense. Burrow’s stats weren’t remarkable in a 33-27 win against the Buccaneers — he threw for 254 yards and a 89.5 passer rating — but a season-long team turnaround would give him an edge that Allen, Jackson and Williams couldn’t match.
The Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, who had a ridiculous 150.6 passer rating and four passing touchdowns against the God-awful Browns, and the 49ers’ Brock Purdy, who threw for a 105.6 passer rating and three touchdowns in the Down Under upset of the Rams, are also contenders on our way-too-early watchlist. Defending MVP Matthew Stafford, as terrible as he was in Melbourne, can’t be ruled out, either. The Chargers’ Justin Herbert, the Patriots’ Drake Maye and the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott were all stunned in their opener.
Then there’s Williams, who grabbed the attention of the NFL on Sunday with both his arm and his legs. He reached 20.8 mph on his 29-yard touchdown run, the fourth-fastest speed of any player in Week 1 through Sunday.
On CBS Sports, analyst Bryant McFadden compared him to Stephen Curry, saying, like the Warriors star, he can score from anywhere. In his first game as an NBC analyst Sunday night, former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin praised his physical talent and pointed to his increased comfort in Johnson’s system.
“Chicago fans should be excited,” Tomlin said. “The rest of the NFC North should be very frightened by what we saw.”
On Sunday, Williams became the fourth NFL quarterback ever to top 250 passing yards and 50 rushing yards; throw for two touchdowns and run for two more; and post a passer rating of at least 120 in the same game. The other three were Allen in 2024, the Panthers’ Cam Newton in 2012 and the Eagles’ Michael Vick in 2010.
Two of the three were MVPs. Williams might one day join them. It’s early. But given how long the Bears have been starving for a quarterback, the mere possibility is remarkable in itself.