Um, guys?

Have you been watching?

Have you seen that?

I’ve been writing about the Chicago Bears for over a decade now. This is my eleventh year representing the team. I’ve written for three different websites (none better than Windy City Gridiron, of course), and other than the brief blip in 2018, it’s been nothing but anger and frustration. I mean, my first year was about the second year of the Marc Trestman debacle.

It was really easy to get angry and frustrated. Really easy. What other emotion could you have? There was rarely even a glimmer of hope. Maybe that’s why I, along with thousands of others, did so many backflips over Justin Fields. At least there was hope. Something we had in 2018 but was wiped out in September 2019.

Enter Caleb, Williams be damned.

I don’t think you can say your name without the swear word in the middle. Every week I say this is the week Caleb regresses a little, I mean he has to, he can’t keep improving at this rate. He just can’t do it.

He then completed 80% of his passes and threw four touchdown passes, where he barely scored five touchdown passes.

He only scratches the surface.

It is his sixth NFL start.

I know the doubters will say he does this against poor defenses. Now, we haven’t seen QBs accomplish such feats against any type of defense. This is a foreign concept to the city of Chicago.

Damn, it’s a foreign concept to the Bears organization.

I’ve been waving the flag for Caleb Williams for a year. I excited the fan base with a tweet from a respected NFL analyst who said there was nothing Justin Fields could do to stop the Bears from signing Caleb Williams. Many Bears fans weren’t ready to hear it, but looking back now, you can see why. Anyone who knew anything about ball knew what that could be.

My point is that I underestimated Caleb Williams. Yes, the man who said this was the move the organization needed to make in the fifth week of the 2023 season didn’t even know how quickly he would be able to do it.

The fans were angry with the generation.

That’s him.

Cross-generational.

Some of you are reading this and saying, “Slow down, Zimmerman. Slow.”

I won’t.

If you don’t recognize that what you see is different, I can’t help you. His mastery of the offense. His fast game. I quickly learn when to take advantage of my chances and win a deep ball. He keeps throwing the pennies. The impressive timing routes. Throw with anticipation. It’s all there.

Do you know what my favorite part of the game against Jacksonville was? It was the end of the first half.

Caleb throws the brutal interception. And that was it. As I said last week, he will continue to make mistakes. He’s a newbie, he’s learning. It was just a failure, but it was the right decision.

The Bears get the ball back on their own with three minutes left. Even with Justin Fields or Mitch Trubisky, I think Matt Nagy or Matt Eberflus would have tried to score points. But if they had made an interception like Caleb’s, the playcalling would have been ridiculously conservative. The Bears would have been at midfield (hopefully) with about 20 seconds left, hoping to get a few more yards at the end of the half to attempt a 55-yard field goal.

But that’s Caleb Williams’ offense.

Caleb calmly led the team down the field and 85 yards later the Bears had their second touchdown of the game.

Here’s how Caleb reacted after his worst throw in three weeks.

This is something special.

The Chicago Bears have a quarterback. I get goosebumps as I write this sentence.

Enjoy this season. Enjoy the growth. Caleb Williams will soon lead the Bears to 11, 12 and 13 win seasons. Expectations will change.

When expectations rise, little things like this get lost. Bears fans will be upset about playoff losses. Maybe even Super Bowl defeats. They won’t win the Super Bowl every year and it will be frustrating if that becomes the expectation.

It’s coming.

Remember to have fun this season as you watch the Chicago Bears develop a QB who may even be one of the top ten QBs in the league by the end of this year. What is the ceiling? Top 5? Top 3? Mahomesians? The sky is the limit, so sit back and enjoy the ride.

Quick hits

• As of Week 3, Caleb Williams is FOURTH in EPA/Play in the NFL.
• Caleb Williams has been the BEST quarterback in the NFL in QB Efficiency (EPA/Play, CPOE) over the last three weeks.
• I don’t know how to react to this. This is a rookie quarterback for the Chicago Bears.
• How beautiful was the game when Cole Kmet scored his first touchdown? Kudos to Shane Waldron (this is why you shouldn’t overreact after two weeks).
• Caleb Williams is two touchdowns shy of breaking the Chicago Bears’ rookie touchdown record. Six games have passed.
• Remember the narrative “You can’t draft Caleb Williams because he loses too many fumbles”? He lost one.
• If you average his last four weeks and extrapolate that over the rest of the season, Caleb Williams will have 34 touchdown passes and 4,205 yards. Those would be both Chicago Bears records.
• The Chicago Bears did NOT take the wrong guy. Screw it, haters.
• Insert the Montgomery Burns Evil Laugh GIF here
• Oh, there are 52 other players on the Bears.