With 3 stud receivers, how will Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears break up the workload?

LAKE FOREST – Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said it over and over again as August turned into September. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams needs to lean on the talent around him.

Bears fans will be tuning in Sunday for the season opener specifically because they want to see Williams make his NFL debut. But in a perfect world, Williams will be letting his teammates make the big plays.

“Just get it into our hands, the playmakers, the talent that coach is talking about,” veteran receiver Keenan Allen said this week at Halas Hall. “Just let everything happen for itself instead of trying to wait on plays that aren’t really there and try to create your own plays.”

The Bears have a trio of electric playmakers in Allen, DJ Moore and rookie first-round pick Rome Odunze. They signed running back D’Andre Swift and tight end Gerald Everett, while also bringing back starting tight end Cole Kmet. The playmakers – at least on paper – appear to be everywhere in this offense.

Over the course of a two-year rebuild, Bears general manager Ryan Poles remained patient at the quarterback position for just this reason. He gave himself time to build up the roster around the quarterback before finding his hand-picked QB prospect to drop into the lineup.

Just get it into our hands, the playmakers, the talent that coach is talking about.”

—  Keenan Allen, Bears wide receiver

Poles previously spent a decade working his way up the Kansas City Chiefs’ front office, watching as the Chiefs dropped Patrick Mahomes into a perfect situation that included Pro Bowlers at tight end, receiver and running back – Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt.

Just as there’s curiosity to see how Williams plays in his debut, there’s quite a bit of curiosity to see what this Bears wide receiver trio looks like and how these three weapons play together.

Moore is fully expected to remain the No. 1 option in this offense. The Bears signed him to a four-year, $110 million contract extension in July, which will make him one of the highest-paid receivers in the NFL. Money talks, and the Bears clearly view Moore as the No. 1 receiver.

Poles traded a fourth-round pick for Allen in March. Allen only has one year remaining on his contract and the Bears don’t appear to be in a hurry to extend him. Poles is probably just as curious as anyone to see if Allen can adjust to not being the first option in the passing attack, as he was for the Chargers for the better part of 11 years.

“I kind of love it,” Allen said. “I mean, just holding the expectation of carrying the offense so to speak. I’ve always had guys around me who can make plays as well, too. But injuries happen, things happen, and then you’re all of the sudden the guy that’s getting the majority of the touches.”

Allen makes a good point. In a league where everybody gets injured at some point, the Bears are well positioned to withstand an injury at receiver. That was not the case in 2022, when the depth wasn’t there, or in 2023, when Moore’s production papered over what was otherwise a weak group.

Then there’s Odunze, the rookie No. 9 overall draft pick. On most teams, he would be the star addition. On this Bears team, Odunze is the third wheel.

“I’m excited [about] what I can add to that mix and what we can all do together,” Odunze told Shaw Local News Network this week. “I think that’s something that will be special and [to] see how the defense tries to play us and see what we can make shake.”

Odunze led college football with 1,640 receiving yards in 2023. He had 13 receiving touchdowns, plus one rushing and one touchdown on a punt return. He has size and he can move. He comes from a Washington offense that stressed defenses vertically (he averaged 17.8 yards a catch in 2023). Odunze certainly appears to be the future of the wide receiver position for the Bears.

But in the present, it’s highly unlikely that all three receivers can put together 1,000-yard seasons. That’s only been done five times in NFL history, and not since 2008. It’s not likely to happen with a rookie quarterback, even a good one.

There’s a lot of mouths to feed – and only one football.

Asked if he was tired of talking about what this group could do, Odunze said no. He plans to keep talking about it, but it’s also time to back it up on the field.

“When you have all those guys and so many different weapons on the field, you’re not going to see the ball every play,” Odunze said. “That’s not my expectation, but I do expect myself to make plays and be put in opportunities to make plays alongside all the rest of those guys.”