The Chicago Bears continue to move in the direction of selecting Caleb Williams with the first overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.
It's been fascinating watching how Ryan Poles has gone about the Bears' off-season in anticipation of the quarterback change.
Poles has learned from how the Bears handled the rookie seasons of both Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields. The Bears lacked offensive playmakers in both 2017 and 2021 and that led to the team being one of the worst landing spots for a quarterback to enter the league and start immediately during their rookie season.
While Poles was not the general manager of the Bears for either of those seasons, his moves this off-season have shown an awareness of that failure given that he has added two Pro Bowl players at the skill positions on offense while already having a defense that is trending toward the top of the NFL.
What has also been lost in this process is that fact Williams is also entering a better situation than he had with the USC Trojans last season. The Trojans were stripped of playmakers on offense and defense last season, often placing Williams in a situation where he had to be a superhero.
ESPN's Mina Kimes expanded upon this fact earlier this week.
From NFL Live yesterday: One big difference between Caleb Williams and Justin Fields that should make Bears fans optimistic… pic.twitter.com/uwy0j4PdmR
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) March 22, 2024
Caleb Williams' landing with the Chicago Bears is far better than his last season at USC.
The biggest realization that Bears fans had during Fields' rookie season in 2021 is that the quarterback seldomly played under duress with the Ohio State Buckeyes. While that is not something that can be held against Fields, it is something that may have aided in the stunted development he experienced with the Bears.
Everything about the Williams' experience with the Bears will be different from what was learned from Fields.