Jayden Daniels is ascending, Bo Nix is ascending, Drake Maye, Caleb Williams is not ascending.
That’s the midseason issue facing the Chicago Bears who find themselves in an awkward position with their first overall pick from the 2024 NFL Draft.
Jayden Daniels was selected second overall and is firmly in the MVP conversation[/caption]
While Williams status as supremely talented signalcaller, face of the franchise and elite prospect is not in question just nine games into his rookie season – the standard of his play is.
With 1,665 yards and nine touchdowns, Williams ranks outside the top 15 in both categories for the season, while his QB rating of 41.9 puts him 27th in the league but there have been moments.
The off-script plays, the stand-out performance in London to carve up the Jacksonville Jaguars, and a 4-4 record that is not a disaster for a Bears team without a winning record in each of the last five seasons.
In fact it’s one winning season since 2012.
In an ultra competitive NFC North the Bears found themselves at 4-2 after their win in London, but after back–to-back defeats in the games since the questions over Williams, the Bears and head coach Matt Eberflus have began to pick up.
“Where is he improving? Where is your offensive passing improving?” Dan Orlovsky told ESPN’s Get Up.
“There are moments where he hits that back foot and he gets the ball out and it’s accurate, it was on time, and it looks fantastic. It just doesn’t happen often enough,” Jason McCourty added.
“I know what has to happen,” 10-year NFL veteran and former wide receiver Harry Douglas chimed in
“They have to get an offensive-minded head coach, that’s a guru that can connect with their quarterback.
“So he can go down the proper train track and not be on the derailed one that he’s on currently right now.
Making things difficult for the Bears – and more specfically Eberflus – is that fact that the quaretrbacks picked directly behind Williams are starring.
“If we are being realistic, is the staff that is in place there right now, the best?,” Orlovsky added.
“After nine or ten games, you sit there and that answer’s no. You sit there and you watch Jayden Daniels and his constant ascension this year. If we’re being honest, you’re watching Drake Maye and his ascension.
“If we’re being honest, you’re watching Bo Nix play better in his ascension performance wise. And the three rookie quarterbacks that have played, you’ve watched them all play better for the majority of the season and get better for the majority of their season.
“That’s where Chicago is stuck right now because there’s good football coach is there, a good staff. Is it the best for Caleb after nine games?
“It’s hard to say yes. If we’re being honest.”
No one is questioning whether the Bears have got things right, but the question over whether the environment is right is one that is only going to gather pace the more the team struggle.
The Bears face three home games in succession, starting against the New England Patriots in Week 10 before NFC North rivals Green Bay and Minnesota are at Soldier Field.
Those games are likely to go a long way toward shaping not just the season, but the future of the franchise – and ESPN Insider Adam Schefter has one name to keep an eye on, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
After a stellar five-year run in Detroit he is likely to have his pick of teams in the offseason – if he decides to take on a HC role – and Schefter believes the right opportunity would need to present itself.
“Ben Johnson is gonna be very, very selective about the place that he chooses to go. if he decides even to leave Detroit. He’s gonna be very careful.
“I don’t know that he desires to leave that division, to head in the division, to go to a place that you’re talking about the dysfunction that has existed within that organization. We’ll see.
“That’s up to him. But I believe he’s gonna be very selective in how he approaches how to do his business.
“If Ben Johnson is interviewing with anybody this year, he’s interviewing with the intent that he’s going to take that job.”
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