Top 5 most important Chicago Bears in 2024: No. 1 Caleb Williams

Chicago Bears training camp is only a week away. Veteran players report for camp on July 19 and practices begin July 20. The much-anticipated 2024 season is nearly here.

This week, Shaw Local is counting down the top five most important Bears players in 2024. What makes one player more important than another? That’s subjective, of course. But for our purposes it comes down to this: Are the Bears worse off if this player can’t play? Does this player have untapped potential or past greatness to live up to? Is his story going to be one fans follow closely this season?

The best player on the team isn’t always the most important, but he certainly can be. Check back all week long to see the top five most important players.

Here’s a look at No. 1 on the list. The choice probably comes as no surprise.

No. 1 Caleb Williams

Position: Quarterback

Experience: Rookie

Looking back: Every move general manager Ryan Poles made since 2022 has led to this. Tearing down the team he inherited and trading stars such as Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith was all about resetting the timeline and acquiring future draft picks. Trading the No. 1 overall pick in March 2023 was about that, too. Landing the No. 1 overall draft pick again, thanks to that trade, was both a calculated risk and a stroke of good fortune.

All those moves allowed Poles to draft his hand-selected quarterback in 2024. And that quarterback is Caleb Williams. The 22-year-old out of USC was the clear favorite to become the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Poles did not stray from that assessment. He was confident enough about the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner that he shipped Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers long before draft day.

Williams comes to Chicago with confidence and swagger. He’s the first quarterback the Bears organization has ever selected with the No. 1 overall pick. Poles also has surrounded Williams with weapons. The Bears added Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze and D’Andre Swift over the offseason. They had one elite receiver in DJ Moore on the roster already.

Looking forward: Regardless of the wins and losses, the 2024 season is all about Williams. No fan base is more hungry for a franchise quarterback than Bears fans. The Bears are the only NFL team that has never had a 4,000-yard passer, and the organization’s all-time leading passer (Jay Cutler) won only one playoff game.

The Bears desperately need Williams to be the answer.

While patience is certainly necessary throughout this process, the 2024 season will give a pretty strong indication of just how good Williams could be. Certainly, a rookie season isn’t going to cement Williams’ legacy – whether that’s star or bust. But this team is built in such a way that it could allow him to thrive quite quickly if he’s as good as advertised. There are veteran receivers around him. There is continuity on the offensive line. There is a defense eager to show that its strong finish last season was no fluke.

Nobody is more important to the Bears’ future than Williams. The decision to draft Williams will define this era of Bears football, for better or worse. It will define Poles’ tenure as Bears general manager.

If Williams lives up to the hype, the Bears have all the pieces to make a push for the playoffs during his rookie season. If he’s not, well, there’s going to be a familiar panic throughout Chicago. Careers are not made in one season. Remember, Peyton Manning threw 28 interceptions as a rookie, and the Chiefs didn’t even let Patrick Mahomes start during his rookie season. It will be several years before Bears fans truly know how good Williams can be.

But the 2024 season will be the kindling to that fire or a bucket of cold water.

Previous installments of the top five most important Bears

• No. 5 Jaylon Johnson
• No. 4 Keenan Allen
• No. 3 Montez Sweat
• No. 2 DJ Moore