It’s no secret that the Chicago Bears are a franchise plagued by its inability to find a star quarterback, a curse Bears fans hoped would lift on April 25 – the day Caleb Williams became a Chicago Bear. As easy as it is to be optimistic about how the Caleb Williams era might pan out, seven decades of quarterback ineptitude really does make it hard to breathe easy. But on Saturday, in Williams’ preseason home debut, all it took was one throw to give fans in the Windy City the moment they’d long waited for … the moment they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With a rolling left dime down the sideline – the kind of throw only opposing quarterbacks have ever made at Soldier Field – to fellow rookie Rome Odunze, who also played in the season’s first round, Caleb Williams lifted a heavy load the size of Willis Tower from Bears fans. After the game, Williams did acknowledge that the 2024 Bears could be fireworks, but the rookie quarterback didn’t get too carried away with the excitement of his first in-game encounter with Odunze. Williams was still primarily concerned with getting enough reps to keep up with the other veterans in Chicago.

“We’re going to be explosive,” Williams said after the 27-3 win, according to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “We’re two newbies, but we’re trying to catch up to the old guys as quickly as possible to make sure we’re on par with them to be efficient, to function, to go out there and be explosive, to be on the same page and win games. That’s ultimately what we’re doing here. With a guy like that drafted with me, we’re only going to continue to grow and continue to build that connection.”

Odunze, on the other hand, was a bit more animated after the game and talked about the exciting connection of the long ball.

“It’s really surreal, honestly,” Odunze said after the game, according to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. “I just watched it again. He throws off one leg and puts it on my outside shoulder. It’s like… ooh, it’s magical what he does back there in the backfield. He’s special.”

Bears fans overjoyed as Caleb Williams’ solid preseason continues

For anyone who was worried about Williams’ NFL readiness, the preseason should have put those worries to rest. Through just under three-quarters of the preseason, Caleb Williams has been as good as Bears fans could hope for, showing a number of the traits that made him such an interesting prospect from the start. In 43 snaps against the Bills and Bengals, Williams has completed 10 of 20 passes for 170 yards and has run the ball twice for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Before the preseason began, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said he expected Williams to make about 50 appearances during the preseason. Given Williams’ impressive performance, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he and the Bears starters only make one, or maybe even two, appearances in Chicago’s final preseason game against the Chiefs on Thursday night.