5 players the Chicago Bears cannot afford to lose in 2024 

1. The 2024 season is all about Caleb Williams 

This is not to say anything disrespectful to Tyson Bagent, but nobody wants to see him playing this season. If he is playing, the hope is that the Bears are up by multiple scores as the clock is ticking down in the fourth quarter. 

Bagent is not a bad player, and he is ascending into one of the better backup quarterbacks in the NFL. Still, the entire 2024 is about Caleb Williams. The Bears have a team that is set to win now, and while Bagent can provide a floor of keeping the team in games, we saw last season that the more starts he got, the easier he was to defend.

Williams has a factor to make things happen when the play breaks down, which takes the ceiling of this team to a new level. Beyond that, while many do expect the team to be in playoff contention and make the playoffs, the expectations stop there and do not quite go to the Super Bowl. 

With that in mind, this year is all about making sure Williams is the guy to eventually take the team to the Super Bowl. Every snap he gets is valuable and every bit of progress is worth tracking. At the end of the season the record will matter, but whether or not the team, the fans, and the organization is bought in on Caleb Williams is the most important result.