Caleb Williams achieves career milestone before his first snap with the Bears

The time has finally come. The Chicago Bears are set to kick off their 2024 season against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon, and the moment we've all been waiting for will have arrived.

It's the regular season debut of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

The former USC standout and no. 1 overall pick has brought new life and energy to Chicago, the organization and the fan base. It's fair to say he's even breathed some new, refreshing life into the league as a whole.

It's never a bad thing when you've got a player, seemingly larger than life, come into the league and offer fans just one more reason to watch the greatest professional sport on earth. Williams has not only been in the spotlight, but he's showed he's ready for it. He's handled it with class and continued to work his tail off while supporting his teammates the best he can.

And, before Williams even takes the field for his first regular season game, he will have accomplished something highly notable in his football career.

Thursday, USC announced it had retired Williams' college jersey, number 13, while also bringing back the former Trojan legend, Reggie Bush, into the conversation, hanging right next to Williams' number.

Caleb Williams will likely never see his Bears jersey retired, but why?

Bears fans know the team's history well when it comes to the quarterback position. It has been more than a century now, and this team still has yet to find themselves a true, franchise quarterback. They've felt close, at times, but still haven't quite figured it out.

Enter: Williams.

But, as great as Williams may turn out to be, the Bears probably won't ever retire his no. 18 jersey.

The Bears are tied with the New York Giants having retired more jerseys than any other franchise at 14 overall. After they retired Mike Ditka's number 89, the team decided to be done with the practice.

So, for Williams, seeing his USC jersey retired might be the only major jersey enshrinement he experiences. But, that's not the end of the world. Williams' goal, after all, is football immortality.

If he is able to bring the Bears a Super Bowl, or even achieve his goal of winning multiple championships, there's no doubt he'll become a franchise legend, and maybe even find himself in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day.

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves with that kind of talk.