Chicago Bears teammates have supreme confidence in rookie QB Caleb Williams heading into opener

LAKE FOREST – When he exits the tunnel Sunday at Soldier Field, Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams will do a spin and take in all four corners of the stadium. Beyond that, it will be all business for the No. 1 overall draft pick.

“Take it all in and feel the the energy, the vibe and get going from there,” Williams said. “Once I do my spin and get down to the sideline, it’s go time.”

Bears fans have been waiting more than six months for go time to arrive. They haven’t seen their team play a meaningful game since January. Williams will make his NFL debut in front of the home crowd on what forecasts to be a bright, sunny September afternoon.

At long last, it will be time to see what the much-hyped rookie quarterback is made of.

For Williams, this moment has been years – a lifetime, really – in the making. When he was 10 years old, Williams and his dad came up with a plan to transition him into one of the best quarterback prospects in the country. Everything revolved around football and the goal was to one day become the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.

So far, Williams has hit many of his milestones, including winning the Heisman Trophy and becoming the No. 1 draft pick. Success at football’s highest level, however, will not be easy. He’s not shy about wanting to win multiple Super Bowls.

But first, he must make his debut. Williams has said in the past that he doesn’t get nervous before games. His teammates don’t see a nervous QB this week at Halas Hall.

“He’s got the same vibes, but maybe just a little more amped,” rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze told the Shaw Local News Network. “Every single time he steps out there on that practice field, he’s game ready and game prepared. He has that ability to focus in the smallest moments, so that way when we get to game time, it’s very similar.”

He’s got the same vibes, but maybe just a little more amped.”

—  Rome Odunze, Bears wide receiver

There will be mistakes. That’s all part of the process. Even if Williams eventually does prove to be better than the average rookie quarterback, he’s likely to have some rookie moments.

But the hope is that Williams is well prepared to meet that adversity head on. He’s done that at every stage of his career.

As a freshman at Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C., he won the starting quarterback job and was learning on the fly. As a freshman at Oklahoma, he supplanted Spencer Rattler midway through a game against rival Texas and was forced into the fire.

He met the moment both of those times. In high school, Williams quickly landed on the national recruiting radar as a freshman. Four years later at Oklahoma, he immediately led the Sooners to an epic comeback against Texas.

His NFL debut is simply the next step.

“There’s going to be adversity throughout the course of this game and there’s going to be adversity throughout the course of the season,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. “Everybody faces it. It’s how you respond to it.”

Eberflus expects the rookie to lean on the veterans around him. That’s why the Bears spent the whole offseason adding talent at wide receiver, running back and tight end.

Neither of the organization’s two previous first-round quarterbacks, Mitchell Trubisky in 2017 and Justin Fields in 2021, came in with as much hype as Williams. He’s the first QB the Bears have ever taken with the No. 1 pick. He’s the first Heisman Trophy winner the Bears drafted in nearly three decades.

“I’m excited to see him,” Eberflus said. “And I’m excited to [see him] lean in and lean on his teammates, because that’s what you have to do with a quarterback. He’s got guys around him that have played a lot of years.”

Those veterans have been pretty impressed by what they’ve seen so far. Everybody on this Bears roster seems to believe in the rookie quarterback.

“He’s always been the [starter], so he’s always had the expectation of playing at that level that we play at,” receiver Keenan Allen said. “He’s ready for it. He’s up for the task. His confidence is good.”