On Caleb Williams, expectations and hope for Chicago

chonprasit

National Football League

Updated Apr. 25, 2024 9:17 p.m. ET

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Carmen Vitali

NFC North Reporter

Expectations are a funny thing.

Having them suggests a hope for a somewhat familiar situation.

Except Chicago has never seen anything like Caleb Williams before. They’ve never seen brazen offensive football before. How can you have expectations for something you’ve never had?

Expectations are a funny thing.

That’s the plan on night one of the 2024 NFL Draft, where the Bears didn’t overthink it and selected Williams out of USC with the first overall pick in the hope he can finally deliver sustained success to a franchise so desperate for it.

From an on-the-field standpoint, the Bears aren’t exactly offensive savants. Even one of the greatest teams ever, the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears — the Monsters of the Midway — were headlined by a ferocious defense that suffocated and quite literally defeated opponents by breaking their will. It wasn’t by running up the score. It wasn’t by getting so far ahead that it was hopeless to catch up. It wasn’t by the flashy, fun part of football.

Chicago is a blue-collar city. The second city that rose from the ashes the hard way. The city of broad shoulders.

That’s what’s expected of Chicago, and it lends itself to defense.

It most certainly doesn’t resemble the ease with which a guy like Caleb Williams maneuvers the pocket. The smoothness of his feet as he rolls out. The simplicity that comes with a flick of his wrist.

Chicago most certainly isn’t familiar with the flashiness of streaking skill players and sailing footballs up and down the field. The Bears have never seen a 4,000-yard passer in the history of the franchise.

Off the field, Chicago hasn’t seen anything quite like Williams in a very long time, either. More Rodman than Jordan, though Williams will tell you himself he idolizes the latter, Williams marches to the beat of his own drum. But if all goes according to plan, that drum will become the heartbeat of the Windy City.

Chicago is a football town, through and through. Sure, the Blackhawks had a decade-long dynasty not too long ago. The Cubs broke over a century-long “curse” to win the World Series in 2016. The Bulls had their glory days in the 90s. But should the Bears bring a championship home, the city will absolutely erupt in a way that makes those successes look like any old Tuesday.

It’s why expectations, however lofty, have already been placed on a 22-year-old who hasn’t even donned a Bears jersey yet. The city is starved for the kind of brain-breaking, reckless triumph only the Bears can deliver. It’s no wonder the fanbase’s online presence is so polarizing. The city calls itself the best in the world. Its residents wholeheartedly and justifiably believe it. They have poured their hearts and souls into their teams, in particular, in the hopes that they deserve whatever victories come their way.

But expectations are a funny thing.

Just because you have them, just because you deserve them, doesn’t mean they are met.

It isn’t fair to place a Super Bowl or bust qualifier on Williams. He was brought in to be the savior of a franchise that has never known the brand of football he brings. He has been set up well, thanks to general manager Ryan Poles, who has put Williams in perhaps the best situation a quarterback taken first overall has ever been put in. Williams has an experienced tandem of wide receivers in D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen, in addition to adding a new weapon in Rome Odunze — the wide receiver out of Washington selected ninth overall on Thursday. He has a new offensive coordinator with a track record in Shane Waldron. He has a defense that could be a top-five unit if the back half of the 2023 season is anything to go off of. But at the end of the day, Williams is a rookie.

Even if Williams has those lofty expectations himself, that kind of success will take time. Jelling with his new team will take time. Just as Poles meticulously curated the roster and situation over the past three offseasons, the fruits of that labor will take time to ripen, too.

Expectations are just a funny thing, especially if you try to put a timeline on them.

I’m not saying it’s going to take three more years, but don’t let expectations get away from you, Chicago. If the Bears don’t win the division or get to the Super Bowl this season, it doesn’t mean the Bears or Williams have fallen short.

Don’t get me wrong, this iteration of the Bears with the addition of Williams should be expected to succeed. Poles wouldn’t have been hired or allowed to continue the rebuild if that wasn’t the case. It’s just a matter of adjusting expectations in the hope that they’ll be exceeded later.

Because if those expectations of just a plain old winning season, heck, sustained winning seasons (plural) are exceeded, there will be no place like Sweet Home Chicago.

The city will once again be the place that legends croon about. Multiple new generations of sports fans will be born and even more justified. Chicago has clung to a Bears team from nearly four decades ago like cheese to its infamous deep dish pizza (it’s under the sauce). I’ve never known what the expectation of success is like when it comes to the team I grew up with.

Expectations are a funny thing. They can change.

And Williams can be the one to do that in Chicago, starting Thursday night.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.