It’s a new era for Bears quarterbacks.
Again.
When the Bears traded Justin Fields to the Steelers on Saturday for a 2025 conditional sixth-round pick — it can turn into a fourth-rounder — they cleared the way for USC star Caleb Williams to be the No. 1 overall pick next month.
The trade is an all-too-familiar feeling of failure for a franchise whose last great quarterback, Sid Luckman, was born 105 years ago. But the pivot that comes with the move evokes a novel emotion, too — Williams figures to be the first quarterback the Bears have ever taken first overall, karmic justice after losing the Terry Bradshaw coin toss in 1970 and the result of a bold trade of the 2023 No. 1 overall pick.
General manager Ryan Poles and his staff are still doing their homework on Williams, with whom he first met at the NFL Scouting Combine last month. The Bears will attend Williams’ pro day on campus at USC on Wednesday before later bringing him to Halas Hall, where they’ll get a better sense of his medical records.
It’s clear that the Bears are comfortable enough with Williams, though, to move on from their last first-round quarterback.
Williams wants to be an iconoclast. The best way to prove it is for him to succeed where so many others have failed. The Bears have had two Pro Bowl quarterbacks since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger — Jim McMahon and, as a last-minute replacement, Mitch Trubisky. The NFL’s charter franchise has never had a quarterback throw for 4,000 yards in a season; the Texans, founded in 2002, have done it six times.
Trubisky, who was drafted second overall in 2017, and Fields, who was taken 11th in 2021, both went from being the symbol of hope for the Bears’ future to a backup elsewhere. Trubisky signed with the Bills to be their second-stringer in 2021, and Fields will back up Russell Wilson to begin 2024.
Former general manager Ryan Pace traded his first-round picks in 2021 and 2022 to move up to draft Fields. Less than three years later, Poles was forced to spin Fields into, at best, a fourth-rounder next year.
In recent weeks, it was clear the Bears were ready to move on. It was telling that, when new Bears receiver Keenan Allen gave his first press conference Saturday morning, not a single person asked him about Fields.
He was quizzed about Williams, though. Despite playing in the same city, the former Chargers receiver said he’d met the USC quarterback only once, describing him as a “down-to-earth, chill guy.”
But Allen knew all about his play with the Trojans, where he won a Heisman Trophy in 2022 and threw for 8,170 yards, 72 touchdowns and 10 interceptions the previous two seasons.
“Hell of an athlete,” Allen said of Williams. “Obviously, he can make tremendous plays with his feet, with his arm. Looks like he knows the game really well. Really good.”
Adding Allen on Thursday was the latest sign the Bears were focused on building around the young quarterback. The Bears are giving their next quarterback a chance to succeed that Trubisky and Fields — who both started off as backups — never got.
Allen was an integral part of quarterback Justin Herbert’s development — in 2020, Allen caught 10 balls for 96 yards in Herbert’s first game, 13 for 132 in his second and 11 for 62 in his third.
One of the league’s great route runners smiled Saturday when asked about being a friendly target for a young receiver.
“I know the ins and outs, I know the zones, I know how to beat man, I know pretty much how to play the game ...” he said. “I’m friendly for the quarterback because I’ll be in the right spots.”
NOTE: The Bears agreed to a one-year deal with defensive end Jake Martin. Martin, who figures to be a depth piece, has 18 sacks in six NFL seasons.
