Since drafting Caleb Williams no. 1 overall, the Chicago Bears have been subject of a good amount of hype.
And, for good reason.
Williams is the best college quarterback prospect to come into the NFL since maybe Andrew Luck, which is high praise considering we've seen the likes of Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence since then.
But, what Williams' arrival is doing for Chicago is nothing short of spectacular. There have never been such high expectations for a Bears offense, and that's saying something.
He walks into an offensive room with weapons like D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, D'Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson. Chicago has never set up a quarterback for as much success as Williams is about to have.
Speaking of some of those weapons, a recent AI prediction gave Bears fans a graphic as good as any they've seen in recent years, predicting the top three wide receivers all go over 1,000 yards in Williams' rookie season.
The Bears top WRs will all cross that 1,000-yard finish line, according to AI 🤖🐻 https://t.co/QeOjLfI65n pic.twitter.com/n67tov97UM
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) May 7, 2024
If, somehow, that prediction comes true, then Williams has to be getting ready to completely obliterate Bears records as a rookie.
Bears rookie passing records
Passing Yards | Passing Touchdowns |
|---|---|
2,193 (Mitchell Trubisky, 2017) | 11 (Charlie O'Rourke, 1942) |
Bears all-time passing records (season)
Passing Yards | Passing Touchdowns |
|---|---|
3,838 (Erik Kramer, 1995) | 29 (Erik Kramer, 1995) |
If AI is correct in predicting the Bears' wide receiver trio, it's not unrealistic to think that Williams is going to absolutely shatter the Bears' all-time passing records. Forget the rookie records. Williams is going to set an all-time record as a rookie.
Let's realistically try and predict some other notable players' receiving stats, real quick:
Cole Kmet: 59 receptions, 698 yards, six touchdowns
D'Andre Swift: 35 receptions, 209 yards, two touchdowns
Gerald Everett: 25 receptions, 312 yards, three touchdowns
If you add in those modest predictions on top of Allen, Moore and Odunze, that would put Williams just under 5,000 yards passing and 32 passing touchdowns. So, add in a few random touchdowns and receptions here and there, and you'd have a season like this:
5,103 passing yards
37 passing touchdowns
14 interceptions
We're even being generous, giving Williams room for rookie mistakes with those 14 interceptions. But, if he ended with a line like that one, above, he'd have already cemented himself into Bears history with the greatest single season any quarterback has ever had in Chicago.