LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Welcome to Chicago, Caleb Williams.
The expectations are clear for the former University of Southern California star and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner: become the franchise quarterback the Bears have craved for years and lift the founding NFL franchise to the top of the league for the first time in decades.
Other than that, there’s no pressure at all.
“I don’t think of it that way,” Williams, a 6-foot-1, 215-pounder from Washington, D.C., said after the Bears took him with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft Thursday night in Detroit. “That may be the narrative. For me, I handle my job, I be a great teammate first and foremost.”
Bears general manager Ryan Poles made a half-hearted attempt during the week to play things close to the vest when it came to the first pick by telling everyone to “tune in” as he smiled.
The real mystery, of course, wasn’t whether the Bears would kick off the festivities by taking the elusive, rifle-armed 22-year-old; it was what they would do with the No. 9 pick. The Bears took All-America receiver Rome Odunze — fresh off helping the Washington Huskies to a national runner-up finish — which gives them another potential playmaker to go with DJ Moore and six-time Pro Bowl selection Keenan Allen as top targets for their new guy behind center.
As for Williams?
“I handle business on and off the field and then I go to work,” he said. “I enjoy what I do. I love what I do. I’m in there with my guys and my guys are seeing me, they see how hard I work, their guy, their QB, and we go get it. We go win games together. That’s the biggest thing is winning games together, because I can’t win a game by myself. Keenan Allen can’t win a game by himself. And so making sure that we’re all together, offense, defense, special teams, and we go get it.”
The Washington Commanders, who picked second, took 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels from LSU, and the New England Patriots made it three straight quarterbacks by selecting Drake Maye from North Carolina. The run of quarterbacks ended when the Arizona Cardinals went fourth and chose wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. from Ohio State.
The first three picks were also quarterbacks in 1971, 1999 and 2021.
It kicked off a historic draft that had five other teams selecting quarterbacks among the top 12 picks, setting a record with five in the top 10 and tying a record for the most in the first round. Nearly the entire first half of the draft was offensive players.
A defensive player wasn’t selected until UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu went at No. 15 to the Indianapolis Colts. That’s the latest a first defensive player has ever gone, with the previous record No. 8.
Wearing a navy suit with silver accents, Williams swiftly walked on stage and screamed “Woooo! Yeah!” before giving Roger Goodell a bear hug, careful not to squeeze too hard because the NFL commissioner had back surgery three weeks ago.
Rap icon Eminem walked on stage in a Detroit Lions sweatshirt and cap shortly after Goodell to kick off the night at Campus Martius Park. The Motor City native riled up the fans before turning it over to current Lions stars Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson and Amon-Ra St. Brown as well as franchise icons Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, both of them in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
An estimated crowd of 150,000, many wearing their Honolulu blue Lions jerseys, filled the streets surrounding the draft theater and turned the NFL’s biggest offseason event into a giant party. It continues with the second and third rounds Friday evening, with the final four rounds held on Saturday.
Williams is the third quarterback Chicago has selected in the first round in the past eight years. Mitch Trubisky, the No. 2 overall pick in 2017, lasted four seasons. Justin Fields, the 11th pick in 2021, was traded away last month for a conditional sixth-round pick after three seasons.
Chicago has just three playoff appearances since the 2006 team reached the Super Bowl, with the Bears failing to advance in the postseason twice in that span. The Bears are 10-24 in two seasons under Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus, but they see themselves as a playoff contender after going from three wins in 2022 to finishing 7-10 last season.
They’ve made some big moves this offseason, acquiring Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers to team with Moore and then adding Odunze — who led the Football Bowl Subdivision with a school-record 1,640 yards receiving last season — to the mix. Above all, they hope they have their franchise quarterback.
If Williams delivers, he’d be in rare territory in Chicago.
Jim McMahon helped the 1985 team shuffle to Chicago’s lone Super Bowl championship in dominant fashion before injuries took their toll on the quarterback. Jay Cutler set the franchise’s all-time passing record after a blockbuster trade with the Denver Broncos, though his tenure didn’t quite meet the mile-high expectations, whether it was because of his supporting cast, coaching or his own shortcomings. Mostly, however, quarterback has been a source of frustration in Chicago.
Williams said recently on The Pivot Podcast that he hopes to spend 20 years with one team and chase Tom Brady’s record seven Super Bowl wins. The Bears would be happy if he develops in ways Fields and Trubisky never did after being taken with high draft picks.
Williams comes with both the resumé and the tools. He has the arm strength and ability to avoid defenders, to extend plays and make throws on the run. He’s also strong in the pocket, an area where Fields struggled, and he’ll be throwing to some experienced targets. Besides Allen and Moore, Williams will also have two productive tight ends in Cole Kmet and newcomer Gerald Everett.
Williams threw 93 touchdown passes and ran for 27 scores in his college career, spending his freshman year at Oklahoma in 2021 before transferring to USC as he followed coach Lincon Riley in joining the Trojans.
The Bears are the only NFL franchise that hasn’t had a quarterback throw for 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns in a season.
They passed up on Bryce Young (who went first to the Carolina Panther) and C.J. Stroud (who went second to the Houston Texans) last year and traded the No. 1 pick to Carolina in a blockbuster deal only to get the top choice this year after the Panthers went 2-15.
This year, Williams was the clear front-runner in a quarterback-rich draft that included Daniels, Maye and J.J. McCarthy of national champion Michigan.
The Bears didn’t meet with any other quarterbacks, though, and Williams didn’t visit any other teams. He impressed his future team over dinner with several Chicago players last month, showing them he’s more substance than Hollywood style.
“It was good for them to be able to go back to the (front office) and speak on how I am instead of all the stuff that everybody sees every day on me,” Williams said Wednesday.
Poles was convinced Williams was the right choice after receiving positive feedback from the veterans.
“He came across as a really good teammate, easy to talk to, down to earth,” Poles said earlier this week. “We’ve talked through this process about the whole Hollywood thing. He’s all ball, wants to work, wants to get better, wants to win as a team. That’s the No. 1 thing for him on top of being successful.
“So I think the biggest thing is: Does he fit with our culture and what we’re trying to do? And all signs were that he does, so that’s a positive.”
Williams threw for 4,537 yards, 42 touchdowns and five interceptions in 20221 to lift USC from four wins in 2021 to 11 that season with an appearance in the Cotton Bowl.
He put up big numbers again last year while the Trojans struggled to an 8-5 record with one of the nation’s worst defenses. He threw for 3,333 yards, 30 touchdowns and five interceptions in 12 games. He did not in the Holiday Bowl with the Trojans.
Williams is the third player drafted by the Bears with the No. 1 pick, though their first since 1947, when George Halas gambled on Oklahoma A&M halfback Bob Fenimore despite a knee injury that cut short his senior season. The former All-American lasted just one year in the NFL.
Chicago’s only other No. 1 pick was Michigan halfback Tom Harmon in 1941. The 1940 Heisman Trophy winner declined to sign with the Bears, saying he was finished with football. Harmon served as a pilot in World War II and eventually played two seasons for the Los Angeles Rams before moving on to a career in broadcasting.
AP photo by Paul Sancya / Former LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels celebrates with fans after being selected by the Washington Commanders with the No. 2 overall pick during the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night in Detroit.2024 NFL DRAFT
At Detroit
Thursday night’s first-round picks
1. Chicago Bears (via trade with Carolina Panthers): Caleb Williams, QB, 6-foot-1, 214 pounds, USC.
2. Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels, QB, 6-3, 210, LSU.
3. New England Patriots: Drake Maye, QB, 6-4, 223, North Carolina.
4. Arizona Cardinals: Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, 6-3, 209, Ohio State.
5. Los Angeles Chargers: Joe Alt, OT, 6-8, 321, Notre Dame.
6. New York Giants: Malik Nabers, WR, 6-2, 199, LSU.
7. Tennessee Titans: JC Latham, OT, 6-5, 342, Alabama.
8. Atlanta Falcons: Michael Penix Jr., QB, 6-2, 216, Washington.
9. Chicago Bears: Rome Odunze, WR, 6-2, 212, Washington.
10. Minnesota Vikings (via trade with New York Jets): J.J. McCarthy, QB, 6-2, 219, Michigan.
11. New York Jets (via trade with Minnesota): Olu Fashanu, OT, 6-6, 312, Penn State.
12. Denver Broncos: Bo Nix, QB, 6-2, 215, Oregon.
13. Las Vegas Raiders: Brock Bowers, TE, 6-3, 243, Georgia.
14. New Orleans Saints: Taliese Fuaga, OT, 6-5, 324, Oregon State.
15. Indianapolis Colts: Laiatu Latu, DE, 6-4, 259, UCLA.
16. Seattle Seahawks: Byron Murphy II, DT, 6-0, 297, Texas.
17. Minnesota (via trade with Jacksonville Jaguars): Dallas Turner, OLB, 6-2, 247, Alabama.
18. Cincinnati Bengals: Amarius Mims, OT, 6-7, 340, Georgia.
19. Los Angeles Rams: Jared Verse, DE, 6-3, 254, Florida State.
20. Pittsburgh Steelers: Troy Fautanu, OT, 6-4, 317, Washington.
21. Miami Dolphins: Chop Robinson, DE, 6-2, 254, Penn State.
22. Philadelphia Eagles: Quinyon Mitchell, CB, 6-0, 195, Toledo.
23. Jacksonville (via trade with Minnesota through Cleveland Browns from Houston Texans): Brian Thomas, WR, 6-2, 209, LSU.
24. Detroit Lions (via trade with Dallas Cowboys): Terrion Arnold, CB, 5-11, 189, Alabama.
25. Green Bay Packers: Jordan Morgan, OT, 6-5, 311, Arizona.
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Graham Barton, OT, 6-5, 313, Duke.
27. Arizona Cardinals (via trade with Houston): Darius Robinson, DE, 6-5, 285, Missouri.
28. Kansas City Chiefs (via trade with Buffalo Bills): Xavier Worthy, WR, 5-11, 165, Texas.
29. Dallas Cowboys (via trade with Detroit): Tyler Guyton, OT, 6-7, 322, Oklahoma.
30. Baltimore Ravens: Nate Wiggins, CB, 6-1, 173, Clemson.
31. San Francisco 49ers: Ricky Pearsall, WR, 6-1, 189, Florida.
32. Carolina Panthers (via trade with Buffalo through Kansas City Chiefs): Xavier Legette, WR, 6-1, 221, South Carolina.