INDIANAPOLIS — USC star Caleb Williams knows all about the quarterback misadventures that have plagued the Bears throughout their century or so of existence. And if they draft him with the No. 1 overall pick next month, he plans to make them forget all their misfortune.
“I don’t compare myself to the other guys that are there or have been there,” he said. “I’m my own player. I tend to like to create history and rewrite history.”
Many have tried, most recently first-round picks Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky, but maybe Williams can finally give the Bears what they’ve been missing. He won the 2022 Heisman Trophy, is widely considered the best quarterback prospect to hit the draft in three years and looks increasingly likely to get picked by the Bears.
Williams came across as confident and comfortable Friday when fielding questions at the NFL Scouting Combine. He has been meeting with several teams but won’t work out or undergo medical examinations this week.
Williams said Bears general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus “were awesome” in their initial meeting Wednesday, though he noted that 20 minutes wasn’t nearly long enough for either side to learn everything it wanted to know. There will be time for that at USC’s pro day March 20 and during a predraft visit to -Halas Hall.
The Bears will have tons of questions for him. He has only one for them.
“Do you want to win?” he said. “That’s it.”
Everything Williams wants to know about the Bears is an offshoot of that, whether it’s about the overall direction of the organization or the team’s ability to properly develop him.
Any skepticism he might have would be understandable given the Bears’ track record, but, at the moment, they present more favorable conditions for him to thrive in than any of the other teams near the top of the draft.
His hometown Commanders are picking second and the Patriots are third, and he met with them this week, but both are four-win teams at the outset of a rebuild. The Bears, conversely, are trying to complete theirs this offseason.
They’re targeting the playoffs and expect to be contending soon. If Williams is as advertised, he’ll certainly accelerate those plans.
The Bears allowed the sixth-fewest points in the NFL after trading for defensive end Montez Sweat at the deadline and should have one of the league’s best defenses, which would give Williams significant margin to get his footing.
They’re much more of an incomplete project on offense but already have made improvements on the offensive line and have quality passing targets in wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet.
They also can continue building this offseason with the No. 9 overall pick and the second-most salary-cap space in the league at $78.7 million.
“The Bears were a 7-10 team — that’s pretty good for a team that has the first pick,” Williams said. “And they’ve got a good defense. They’ve got good players on offense. It’s pretty exciting if you can go into a situation like that.”
Everything points toward that eventuality. While Poles would get a record return in trading the No. 1 pick, dwarfing what he got for it last year, Williams seems too good to pass up.
Poles talked about Williams and Fields this week, which only reinforced the probability that he’ll draft the former and trade the latter.
Poles, who was the Chiefs’ director of college scouting in 2017, when they traded up for Patrick Mahomes, didn’t hesitate to highlight similarities between him and Williams.
He said of Williams: “He’s talented. There’s no other way to talk about it.”
He also talked openly about a possible Fields trade and said if he’s doing that, he wants to make a deal “as quickly as possible” and ideally before free agency begins March 11.
Williams hasn’t been concerned with any of that. He’s certain he’ll be the first pick in the draft, and it’s up to the Bears to take him or allow someone else to swoop in and do it.
“It’s not a thought in my mind,” he said. “I don’t think I’m not going to be No. 1. I put in all the hard work, all of the time, effort, energy into being that.
“I don’t think of a Plan B. That’s how I do things in my life.”
The Bears appear to have him penciled in as Plan A, though they’re a long way from finalizing that. As Williams left the podium, someone shouted if they had already told him they would pick him No. 1. He just laughed and left. Everyone sees where this seems to be headed. Williams sounds ready for it.
