The Chicago Bears are once again giving their fans plenty to shout about in the offseason, as this fanbase is already getting giddy at the thought of what sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams is going to do with former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson at the sticks.
That optimism is all well and good, especially given Williams' raw talent as a passer, but there's a major gap between what Bears fans and the media think he can be capable of as he works to improve.
Vic Tafur of the Athletic is predicting yet another season below the .500 mark for Chicago, citing the notion that Williams is a "magnet for sacks" after a very difficult rookie campaign. Tafur doesn't even believe all of the offseason additions Chicago made are going to make a dent in fixing this.
The Bears have a completely new interior offensive line, having traded for guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney while signing center Drew Dalman in free agency. Still, until Williams proves he can overcome this issue, the Bears have a very hard ceiling on their long-term potential
Bears projected to go 8-9 due to Caleb Williams' sack issues
Williams either needs to become a Joe Burrow-like mental processor who can rip off enough chunk plays to negate the big sacks or figure out a way to avoid being taken down so easily. While this issue was as prominent in college at USC, he did take some very bad sacks when his offensive line was overwhelmed against elite competition.
As a pure passer, Williams remains one of the best young players in the league. Having set the record for the most consecutive passes without an interception in his rookie season alongside one of the strongest arms in the league, Williams' ceiling is as high as any young player in the NFC.
Conventional wisdom suggests that a young quarterback who threw for just under 4,000 yards and 20 touchdowns as a rookie with a horrid offensive line and comically bad coaching next to him should improve with an offensive wunderkind like Johnson putting Williams in the driver's seat of his high-powered aerial attack.
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However, Johnson's quarterbacks have thrived on making good decisions and avoiding negative plays. Without that same level of efficiency that Jared Goff and others have shown, Williams and the Bears might need to wait one more before he can truly take off into the stratosphere.