It can be argued that Caleb Williams became the Chicago Bears starting quarterback last December when the Carolina Panthers lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars to clinch the first pick in the 2024 National Football League draft.
What? How does that work?
Well, even though the Panthers had the worst record in football last season, and that fact was clinched with their shutout loss to the Jaguars on New Year’s Eve, they didn’t have the first pick in the draft. They had sent that pick, and others, to the Chicago Bears for the right to select Bryce Young with the first pick in the 2023 draft.
That hasn’t worked out so well, at least not yet. Young was a bust in his rookie season while the second player taken in last year’s draft, C.J. Stroud, had a fantastic rookie season and led the Houston Texans to the playoffs.
This year, with the first pick, the Bears chose Caleb Williams out of Southern Cal and named him their starting quarterback before ESPN was done running his stats on draft day. To remove any doubt, the Bears shipped their starting quarterback, Justin Fields, a first-round draft choice in 2021, to the Pittsburgh Steelers at a bargain basement price.
See, the Bears knew who they wanted long before they drafted Williams, and named him their starter before he even entered Chicago’s locker room.