Do you dare believe in Caleb Williams? Or any Chicago Bears quarterback?

Chicago Bears fans kept waiting for the franchise quarterback. Is the wait over? (Mike Bass photo)

By Mike Bass
mbass@mikebasscoaching.com

My first football crush transcended Sundays. 

I grew up devouring tales of Papa Bear and the Galloping Ghost, Bronko and Bulldog, the T-formation and 73-0 over Slingin’ Sammy Baugh. All provided context and meaning to my hometown Bears, because the team I loved played some of the worst football I would ever see. (And I would see an awful lot of awful football in my media days.)

I was just old enough to fawn over icons Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers, still All-Pros amid their injuries, for a 1969 team that lost even when it won. Beating Pittsburgh eventually left both teams 1-13. Instead of being able to draft Terry Bradshaw No. 1 unimpeded, the Bears lost the coin flip. Bradshaw quarterbacked the Steelers to four Super Bowl rings, while the Bears imbedded Bobby Douglass into Chicago lore and my psyche.

Ah, Douglass. Record-setting running quarterback. Strong arm. Huge potential. Justin Fields for The Me Decade. Douglass was entertaining but a ’70s sideshow. The Bears moved on, again, in search for a franchise quarterback who never arrived, a story arc that defines them. And we as Bears fans had to live with that.

And it got to us. 

Sure, there were memorable moments and seasons. Fields could be spectacular, but rarely in the two-minute drill and with the game on the line. Jim McMahon helped the 1985 Bears win the Lombardi Trophy, but that team revolved more around Walter Payton running on offense and Buddy Ryan running the 46 Defense. The Bears’ last true and lasting franchise quarterback? Sid Luckman. In the 1940s. In 1943 alone, he set NFL passing records for yards (2,194) and touchdowns (28). In a 10-game season.

The game evolved into a 4K model suitable for modern viewing while the lagging Bears faded out of the picture. Today they are a trivia answer, the one team that never had a quarterback pass for 4,000 yards – or 30 TDs – in a season. Even in a 17-game season.

You need an elite quarterback today to win a Super Bowl, a game changer, not a game manager.

Which is why this season is so intriguing.

Who has it worse than Bears fans?

I recently spoke to a group on a presentation entitled “Bears Fan Training Camp,” to help longtime followers prepare for one of the most anticipated seasons in years.

You want to believe the Bears have found the grail in No. 1 pick Caleb Williams, but how do you release the past if it is keeping you from enjoying this?

Sunday is the first game. You look at the Bears now and you see what you see. Maybe all you see is Same Old Bears. Maybe that helps keep you from getting hurt. Fair enough. You might feel like you have been burned too often. The past keeps coming up. Call it Grid GERD.

No playoffs since the 2020 Bears. No playoff wins since the 2010 Bears. No Super Bowl since the 2006 Bears. No Super Bowl title since the 1985 Bears – and a 6-11 postseason record since then. One winning season in the last 13 – and that was 2018. And you know how that one ended. The Double Doink. Upright. Crossbar. Unbearable.

You start to feel doomed, victimized, like the league and officials and ownership work against you. You are seeing the Bears in a despair-filled vacuum. You think nobody has it worse than you do.

Is it true?

– The New York Jets last went to the playoffs after the 2010 season. The Bears made it 10 years later.

– The Miami Dolphins last won a playoff game after the 2000 season. The Bears won one 10 years later.

– Thirteen teams wish they had gone to the Super Bowl as recently as the 2006 Bears. Four of those 13 have never even reached one Super Bowl. The Bears made two.

­– Twelve teams have never won a Super Bowl. Three others won all their rings before the 1985 Bears won theirs. Altogether, that means 15 fan bases are not feeling sorry for you.

That is almost half of the NFL.

Surprised?

A lot of teams struggle to find a franchise quarterback. I saw the same issue when I worked in Detroit, Minnesota and Cincinnati. You see it now in the mega-trades teams will make to draft higher for potential saviors. Remember what Carolina gave the Bears last year?

None of this changes who the Bears are, just offers a  different perspective on them. If it eases your burden a little, great. Being a Bears fan is not a curse.

It just feels that way sometimes.

What do you expect?

Fandom has a short-term memory, and the recent past has been rough for the Bears.

Yet you got through it.

That says a lot about you.

You even survived the Double Doink.

How did you do it?

It was not unbearable, after all.

Why?

There is more to Bears fandom than reigning. You love you team. You feel a connection with other Bears fans. Your passion is their passion, too. You lean into all that.

Losing still hurts. But if teams can use this time of year to prepare for inevitable adversity, why can’t you? The stress of the game and the pain of losing are real, but you can game-plan how to deal with those and keep your passion.

What would help you when the stress hits? Breathing deeply? Smiling? Screaming into a pillow. Walking away? Pausing the TV? Turning off social media? Changing your now-unlucky shirt? Singing “The Super Bowl Shuffle”?

Remembering where the Bears are in their rebuild?

As you enter this season, ask yourself this: How realistic are your expectations, and how are they affecting you?

Let’s start with what is realistic for Caleb Williams.

He was a collegiate sensation, and the Bears added Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze to give him better options than Fields had. Maybe Williams will elevate his teammates the way Fields could not as a Bear. Maybe Williams will be this season’s C.J. Stroud.

Then again, maybe Williams would be better off learning behind a veteran for a year. The line is the biggest concern on the offense. Is reaching 4,000 yards realistic?

And what is realistic to expect from the Bears?

They won seven games last season. Oddsmakers generally put the over-under at 8.5 wins this season and expect the Bears to finish behind Detroit and Green Bay. The defensive line also remains a concern.

Then again, they now have a full season of Montez Sweat. They also have a new offensive coordinator. And they have a schedule that is tied for third-easiest, based on 2023 records. And they have Caleb Williams.

Your expectations can serve or betray you. Expecting too much could set yourself up for disappointment. Expecting too little could drain your enthusiasm. Are you open to adjusting your expectations situationally?

Today, nine wins for the Bears and 3,500 yards from Williams seem realistic to me – 10 and 4,000 yards on the high end. I am not sure what to expect. I am excited to see what happens. And if Williams and the Bears are busts?

I can handle it. I have experience.

I grew up a Bears fan.