Among the quirks and shames that come with being a Chicago Bears fan, there is one fact about the team that is as hard to sit with as a shot of Malört: In the entire history of the franchise, the Bears have never had a 4,000-yard passer.
Even as their divisional rivals seem to trot out gunslinger after gunslinger — Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff and Daunte Culpepper, to name a few — and despite all the rule changes to make the sport more passing friendly, Chicago has never had a quarterback top that mark.
That finally might change this season.
Caleb Williams runs the ball into the end zone Sunday during a game against the Giants.Todd Rosenberg / Getty Images
Caleb Williams, the second overall pick in the 2024 draft, has not only overcome an 0-2 start to put the Bears in playoff position, but through nine games is on pace to throw for 4,035 yards. This would shatter the current franchise high of 3,838 yards thrown by Erik Kramer in 1995.
More importantly — or maybe not, considering how desperate Chicago fans are to finally enjoy what literally every other NFL team already has — Williams isn’t only racking up empty stats in a losing effort. After a win over the New York Giants in Week 10, the Bears are 6-3, in playoff position and tied with the Detroit Lions for first place in the NFC North.
That means Chicago isn’t only chucking the ball downfield, but it also has a chance to play for its first division title since 2018.
“We understand the urgency that’s at hand,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said in a Monday press conference when asked about the playoff race.
Johnson, who last season was the offensive coordinator drawing up trick plays for the Detroit Lions, was hired in large part to develop Williams and modernize the team’s offense.
He added: “We know where we are in the NFC right now. But I think the biggest thing and the message to the group is that we’re a 6-3 team right now that’s looking to get to 7-3.”
To get to 7-3, the Bears will need to avenge a loss from Week 1, as they’ll play a Minnesota Vikings team that overcame a 10-point deficit to beat Chicago to start the season. For Williams, the rematch with the Vikings is an opportunity to show how far he’s come since September.
The Bears have won six of their last seven games, and after blowing a lead to Minnesota, Chicago has turned the tables on its opponents. Williams has led four fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives in the team’s six wins, including three on the road.
After pulling off perhaps the wildest win of any team this season against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9, Williams followed up with a comeback against the Giants in Week 10, leading two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to erase a 20-10 deficit.
“Towards the end of the game, it’s time to go win the game and you just get in that mode,” Williams told reporters Wednesday about his success late in games. “Defenses have shown you throughout the game what they’ve game-planned for you, so you get into a rhythm and a flow toward the end of the game, and the mindset changes in the sense of we have no other option at that point other than to score and fight and fight and fight, and that’s what we do and what we’ve done.”
Williams added: “We do want to showcase, and I want to showcase throughout the whole game that we can play all 60 minutes and put up points and the defense can hold their offense, and we can start steamrolling. But until that happens, we’re going to keep winning games whichever way we need.”
In addition to what he’s done with his arm — again, on pace to make Bears history! — Williams has also spurred comebacks with his legs, both with his scrambling and his ability to keep plays alive.
Williams leads the NFL in time to throw this season, the only quarterback who has taken at least 10 snaps to average over three seconds in the pocket. Williams takes his time, but not at the expense of sacks — he’s been sacked only 14 times in nine games after taking a whopping 68 last season.
He’s also run for three touchdowns so far this year, including the game-winner against New York.
“That’s the beauty behind what we have going right now is, as a coaching staff, we try to get that primary receiver open as much as we can,” Johnson said. “Sometimes the defense doesn’t cooperate with you. And so Caleb knows that if we can’t get one to two or if he’s feeling the pressure, he can still make us right and we can still have a good place. So, I think it’s a cool thing about where we’re at right now.”
While the offensive improvement is exciting, the game against Minnesota will be the first in a series of tests for Chicago in the season’s home stretch, tests that should reveal if the Bears are serious competition for the NFC’s heavyweights.
There are reasons to doubt Chicago. Four of its last five wins have come in one-score games, a combined margin of victory of 11 points in those four contests. The Bears’ strength of victory is .272, second worst in the NFL.
Meanwhile, Chicago is only now getting to the hard part of its schedule. Among the Bears’ remaining opponents are the Lions (6-3), two games against the Green Bay Packers (5-3-1), longtime foe Rodgers and his new team the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4), the Philadelphia Eagles (7-2) and the San Francisco 49ers (6-4).
But if Williams can stay on his historic throwing pace and lead Chicago to the playoffs against some of the best teams in the league? Then for Bears fans, the wait may have been worth it.