With the 1st overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected Caleb Williams from the University of Southern California. It was this moment, set in motion by a franchise-defining trade a little over one year earlier, that officially marked a new era for the NFL’s oldest franchise. But according to a July 21 report from The Athletic’s Alec Lewis, it’s a moment that was closer to not happening than anyone realizes.
In a July 21 feature chronicling J.J. McCarthy’s return to the field for the Minnesota Vikings, Lewis references a conversation between McCarthy’s personal quarterback coach Greg Holcomb and Bears general manager Ryan Poles in which Poles allegedly revealed that Chicago nearly took the La Grange Park, Illinois native instead of the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner.
“He was talking about how much they (the Bears) loved J.J.,” Holcomb told Lewis. “And said to me, ‘I don’t think people realize how close we were to possibly taking him.’ Obviously, they love Caleb (Williams), but I thought that was interesting.”
Indeed that is interesting, and boy oh boy, there are so many layers to all of this.
First and foremost, there’s the angle that McCarthy, who grew up just 15 miles outside of downtown Chicago, grew up a Bears fan. He played in the midwest for the 2023 National Champion Michigan Wolverines, and therefore, had at the very least loose ties to Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren, who was commissioner of the Big Ten Conference while McCarthy was playing in Ann Arbor.
Then there’s the Caleb Williams angle to all of this. In his new book American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham noted that after meeting with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell at the NFL Scouting Combine, Williams reportedly hoped to be drafted by Minnesota, not Chicago, in the 2024 NFL Draft.
So this raises a question that went unanswered in Alec Lewis’ piece… were the Bears considering selecting McCarthy with the 1st overall pick, or was there a potential trade in place that would’ve seen Chicago and Minnesota swapping picks, paving the way for the Vikings to end up with Williams while the Bears would’ve later selected McCarthy?
For now, all of this remains a mystery, but what’s not a mystery is that both fans in Chicago and Minnesota will get to see these two young quarterbacks in action against each other on the opening Monday night of the 2025 season.
Bears Fan McCarthy Set To Make NFL Debut in Chicago
Assuming McCarthy manages to make it through the preseason unscathed, he’ll be making his first career regular season start in his hometown of Chicago. It’s a moment that will mean a whole lot to the Illinois native, and it will mean plenty to Caleb Williams too, who faces an incredible amount of pressure in his second season as the Bears starting quarterback.
“Seriously. It’s such an epic stage to be on,” Holcomb said. “The team for the city you lived in. Prime time. Your first start.”
You couldn’t ask for a higher stakes introduction to life in the NFL than that one, especially considering just how competitive the NFC North is expected to be this year. Remember, in 2024, three teams from the NFL’s Black and Blue Division made the Playoffs, and in terms of both the roster and the coaching staff, few teams around the league made more meaningful changes to their personnel ahead of the 2025 season than the Bears.
Ben Johnson Comes to Chicago to Coach Caleb Williams
One last angle that’s worth discussing when it comes to this whole Caleb Williams-J.J. McCarthy Freaky Friday situation revolves around Ben Johnson, who arrived in Chicago this offseason with nearly as much hope of being the savior in the Windy City as Williams did when the Bears selected him in April 2024.
At this point, it’s no longer a secret that Ben Johnson chose the Bears head coaching job, among his many other options, in large part because it provided him the opportunity to coach Caleb Williams. Since this is the case, it makes you wonder whether Johnson would’ve picked the Bears if it were McCarthy at quarterback instead of Williams.
Again, this is a mystery that will likely remain unsolved, but with a crucial season upcoming for both the Vikings and the Bears, it’s one that analysts and amateur sleuths will be eager to continue trying to crack.
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