Sports Illustrated writer Eva Geitheim went through all 32 NFL teams and gave a one-sentence assessment of each team's quarterback room. After a 2025 season that wouldn't be recognizable to those who watched in the years prior, the statement about the Chicago Bears is filled with high praise and possibly a little controversy.
"The Bears still might not have had a 4,000-yard passer, but in Caleb Williams they do have their best quarterback since Sid Luckman."
For those of you who don't know, Sid Luckman, who played from 1939 to 1950, is recognized as the greatest quarterback in the Bears' storied history. To older generations, he was the standard by which to be held, but to modern fans, he's like the legend you hope to one day be compared to. For Caleb Williams, that day has come early.
Not A Fair Fight
In light of Williams' successes, being compared to Luckman is a career-level feat for any Bears quarterback, let alone one that has only recently completed his second year in the NFL. But it's worth acknowledging the elephant in the room. The modern NFL is a far cry from the game that was played almost one hundred years ago. They played under entirely different rule sets and entirely different eras of the game. Luckman played in the leather helmets era, whereas Williams plays in a QB-friendly league.
This isn't an attack against Luckman's achievements, and it's not shade thrown toward Williams' success. Rather, it's pointing out that the framework of this comparison simply doesn't work. The Bears have famously struggled to build a dynasty for decades, with frequent quarterback turnover and stale offensive schemes driving Bears fans' discontent for generations. This time feels different.
While Luckman is the gold standard of past successes, Williams is the embodiment of the franchise's hopes for the future. The pairing of Ben Johnson with Williams has so far proven to be a match that could define this era of Bears football. With other pieces in addition to Williams also falling into place, Bears general manager Ryan Poles has been validated in his choices on more than one occasion.
Read more: Kevin Burkhardt makes the declaration Bears fans have long waited to hear
If national outlets are already reaching back eight decades for an appropriate comparison to Caleb Williams, that tells us most everything we need to know about how he's viewed. Whether the comparison is fair or not, the conversation around Williams and the Bears in general has finally changed. For the first time in generations, the Bears are being discussed with real quarterback optimism.