With Packers looming, Caleb Williams looks like the quarterback Chicago has waited 75 years for: Telander

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CHICAGO - If I were Shedeur Sanders I’d stand in front of a mirror and repeat to myself, "I’m not in Colorado anymore. I’m not in Colorado anymore."

That could help. The dude needs help, you understand.

Now that the Chicago Bears have demolished the pathetic Browns 31-3, a team seeking a quarterback since they were reborn in Cleveland back in 1999, young Sanders can be scratched off as that savior. Sanders doesn’t have dad, Deion, coaching him anymore, and he doesn’t have brother Shilo or 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter supporting him.

He's got the Browns all around him. Sorry about that.

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I only bring any of this up to point out the contrast in what the Bears have at quarterback, and the good fortune that portends. OK, one last thing about the Browns before they go for good. Not only did this quarterback-snakebit team once draft quarterback bust Tim Couch, it also used a first round draft pick on Johnny "Football" Manziel and gave up a king’s ransom for free agent Deshaun "Towel Trick" Watson.

Johnny Football did everything wrong on and off the field and is long gone, and massage-deviant Watson has started 19 games in his four years with Cleveland, and his guaranteed $230 million contract is widely considered the worst for any team in the history of pro football.

What can happen when you are desperate for a great quarterback: You simply lose your mind.

So, well done, Chicago Bears. Sanity all around. Caleb Williams, the number one pick in the 2024 draft, is growing and learning under coach Ben Johnson and using his natural skills to become—possibly—the best quarterback the Bears have had in the last 75 years.

He threaded a touchdown pass to wide receiver D.J. Moore in the third quarter of the Browns game that whistled into a crowded end zone and missed foes’ fingertips by millimeters and somehow only struck Moore’s. It was a ridiculous throw, against all principles—never throw late down the middle into a crowd—that worked perfectly.

"I can make that throw," Williams said confidently in the locker room.

The larger point here is the Bears play the Packers at Soldier Field on Saturday night, not quite two weeks after they lost to them at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. At 10-4 the Bears need to beat the 9-4-1 Packers to stay atop the NFC North Division. This will be a quarterback duel. That’s the gist of it all.

Last Sunday, Packers quarterback Jordan Love had a bland game against the Broncos in a 36-24 loss. But two weeks before that, he threw four touchdowns against the Lions in a win and finished with a 124.2 passer rating. He’s proven he’s a solid quarterback.

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One thing to remember about Williams—he’s proven to be elusive and durable. And that’s beyond critical in this hurtin’ league. Williams has never missed a game and will be starting his 32nd straight since joining the NFL. He can be counted on.

And injuries make teams shells of their former selves. Consider the now out-of-the-playoffs Chiefs. Superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL Sunday, and that’s the guaranteed end of the Kansas City dynasty. Well, for now.

And then there’s this, as players go down all over, including several Bears linebackers and defensive backs (like Kyler Gordon) and wide receivers Rome Odunze and questionable Luther Burden: the Packers star pass rusher, Micah Parsons tore his left knee ACL on Sunday. That’s a big one. That means the person who would relentlessly chase Williams Saturday, make his night a possible horror show of flee-and-fling and even brutal sacks, is gone.

How good is Parson’s replacement? Not as good as he was, that’s for sure. Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare, and Arron Mosby are said to be the cast that will fill in the void. Maybe they’ll do fine. Maybe the Packers will use an entirely new defensive scheme that minimizes Parsons’ absence. No matter what, this bad news for the Packers is good news for the Bears.

I think back to Shedeur Sanders and the brutality of being a new or fresh or uncertain or clueless quarterback in the NFL. You get eaten up and spit out. There is no kindness. No empathy.

What a blessing it is, then, to have a guy at the Bears helm like Caleb Williams. He’s good and he’s still standing.

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Want more? Read some of Rick Telander’s recent columns for Fox 32:

The Source: This article was written by Rick Telander, a contributing sports columnist for FOX 32 Chicago.

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