Open Thread Question of the Day: Scale of 1-10: How confident are you that the Chicago Bears finally have their franchise quarterback?

Will Caleb Williams finally be the answer to a question that has troubled the Bears for 75 years?

The list is so long it will make your head spin. From Ed Brown to Justin Fields, the Chicago Bears have been looking for the team’s next great franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman hung up his cleats about 75 years ago.

Fans thought Jay Cutler would finally be the answer. He wasn’t.

Fans hoped Mitch Trubisky could succeed. He didn’t.

Justin Fields certainly couldn’t fail, could he? He did.

But now, after all that’s transpired this offseason, do the Bears finally have their answer?

Question of the Day: How confident are you right now that the Chicago Bears finally have their franchise quarterback?

Is Caleb Williams, the 2024 NFL Draft’s first overall pick, finally that answer for Bears fans?

We aren’t looking for an answer “yes” or “no” on Caleb Williams, we want a degree of confidence. Let’s use a simple, on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that Caleb Williams will be the Bears QB of the future?

My answer: I think to answer this question, we need to wind the clock back. Let’s look at the confidence level I had with previously highly touted QBs.

Let’s start with Cade McNown. I would say upon draft day, my number was a ‘5.’ By the time the season had started, that number fell to a ‘3.’ I can’t say when it reached ‘1’ but it didn’t take long after that, I can imagine.

McNown had the talent, but it was clear during that first summer in Chicago that he didn’t have the mental make-up to be a franchise QB in the NFL and that’s something the Bears should have realized earlier before they drafted him. This was a poor process.

With Rex Grossman, I would say when he was drafted, my number was a ‘2.’ I didn’t have much faith in Grossman. I thought Rex should have been a third or fourth-round pick, and I was shocked the Bears took him in the first round. The Steve Spurrier “fun gun” QBs from Florida all failed miserably in the NFL and I didn’t see anything different from Grossman that made me think he would be any different.

Let’s move on to Jay Cutler and let’s call Cutler a ‘4.’ The reason the Broncos decided to move on from Cutler was a little odd, but for the most part, franchises just don’t part with QBs they expect to be franchise QBs. The Broncos saw issues with Cutler and they were okay with letting him go.

There certainly were issues with how the Bears handled Cutler and with more stability and better support, Cutler could have had a better career in Chicago, but could he have been a true franchise QB? For me, that answer is no.

As we move forward with Mitch Trubisky, let’s call Mitch a ‘3.’ I didn’t think much of Mitch coming out of college. To be fair, I didn’t think much of Patrick Mahomes either so I’m certainly not second-guessing the pick from my evaluation.

Mitch lacked a lot of what you need at that position. I will say, in the summer of 2019 following the 2018 season, I would say that number for Mitch, would be at a ‘3’ throughout 2017 and into 2018, probably had risen to a ‘5’ or a ‘6’ thanks to the work Matt Nagy did with him in year one. But by the time the 2019 season kicked off, that ‘6’ fell to a ‘1’ within a couple of months.

As we move to Justin Fields, when he was drafted, I would love to say ‘7,’ but if I’m being truthful, I was probably at an ‘8.’ I loved Fields as a prospect and was ecstatic the Bears drafted him.

I would say at the end of year one that ‘8’ had eroded to a ‘5.’ But by the end of year two, that probably bumped up to a ‘7.’ It wasn’t quite as high as it was after he was drafted, but after that electric run of games, it was close.

Of course, that critical year three did in Justin, just like it did in Mitch. Fields went from a ‘7’ to about a ‘3’ by the end of September. I can tell you that Fields fell to a ‘1’ for me after the second Vikings game, but it had been circling the drain for much of October and November.

Now that you have a background as to what I’ve felt about these other QBs, it’s time to discuss Caleb Williams. I can’t put Caleb at a ‘10’ because I think that’s silly to say you have zero doubt that a player who has never played a down cannot fail at the NFL level, but I can also say that I’m far more confident in Williams than I was about any of the other QBs. I would put the Caleb confidence at a ‘9’ but since I get to make my own rules, I’m going to add in additional half points and bump my Caleb confidence level to a ‘9.5.’

My biggest reason for this boost in confidence is Caleb’s mental makeup. McNown clearly didn’t have it. Cutler’s attitude is legendary. Mitch was like everybody’s favorite little brother, but that’s not how you lead a football team. Fields seemed to be well-liked in the locker room, but his coachability seemed to be questionable.

With Williams, he feels different. He has the leadership that Trubisky didn’t. He has the right attitude that McNown didn’t. He’s the right kind of teammate that Cutler wasn’t. He seems like he wants to be coached. He wants to improve. He wants to learn how to do something right so he never does it wrong again.

We know Williams has the physical gifts and skills to make it in this league, but he seems to have the right stuff in between the ears and that is what makes this feel entirely different from QBs from the past.

What do you say, Bears fans? Are you as confident in Caleb Williams as our guy Bill Zimmerman? Sound off in the comments! And vote in this week’s Reacts survey!

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the most confident), how confident are you that the Bears have their franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams?

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