It’s Caleb Williams vs. C.J. Stroud.
Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not.
Not even Williams himself. The Bears rookie has accepted if not embraced his standing as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and his role as the quarterback responsible for ending decades of failure — on offense and as a franchise — at Halas Hall. But you can tell he’s not keen on comparisons, whether it’s Patrick Mahomes or Stroud or any of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
It first came up after the preseason game against the Bengals, when Dolphins wide -receiver Tyreek Hill compared Williams to Mahomes on Twitter.
“It’s cool. It’s great. I always say it’s respect,” Williams said before pivoting to his cold-then-hot performance in that game. “But I’m Caleb Williams. Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes.”
And it was a topic again this week, with the Bears facing the Texans and Stroud in a prime-time game Sunday night at NRG Stadium. The comparison is obvious and inevitable. Stroud, the No. 2 pick of the 2023 draft, had one of the best rookie seasons in NFL history.
Stroud threw for 4,108 yards (which would be a Bears franchise record). He led the NFL in passing yards per game with 273.9 (which would be a Bears franchise record). He threw 23 touchdown passes and only five interceptions — leading the league in lowest interception percentage at 1.0 (which would be a Bears franchise record for full-time starting quarterbacks).
And he did it with no better overall supporting cast than Williams has this season. Stroud had Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil but an otherwise patchwork offensive line. Williams has more established veteran receivers in DJ Moore and Keenan Allen (Stroud had Robert Woods, Nico Collins and Noah Brown). He has a better rookie prospect in No. 9 overall pick Rome Odunze (Stroud had third-round pick Tank Dell). And he has an offensive coordinator with three years of experience as a coordinator/play-caller in Shane Waldron (Stroud had first-time OC/play-caller Bobby Slowik).
Williams might not have Allen or Odunze, who are questionable with injuries, Sunday night. But winning shorthanded is part of the star-quarterback gig (Stroud threw for 274 yards and beat the Broncos without Dell and tight end Dalton Schultz last season).
Be that as it may, Williams made it clear he is not competing against Stroud.
“It’s not motivation for me,” Williams said. “My motivation is to be the best for the Chicago Bears — win games, get to the playoffs and win games there. Motivation comes from myself and within this team, this organization to win games.”
That’s standard public fare for quarterbacks, who on the field face the opponent’s defense instead of the rival quarterback. But reality is another thing, and whether he knows it or not, Williams will be competing against Stroud on Sunday night. It’ll be interesting to see if he responds to the challenge.
That’s what the best quarterbacks do. The Bengals’ Joe Burrow isn’t obsessed with facing Mahomes on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. But he acknowledges the reality of the rivalry with the Chiefs’ quarterback.
“It’s always a big challenge going up against him,” Burrow told reporters this week.
It’s probably not a coincidence that -Burrow plays better against the Chiefs and Mahomes — he’s 3-1 with a 107.0 passer rating (nine touchdowns, three interceptions) in four games, throwing for 313 yards per game. (His career averages are 98.4 and 268.8 yards per game).
He doesn’t make it personal. He makes it real and raises his focus and his game to match the moment. That’s when you know you’ve got something special.