Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams starts NFL career with win, support of Lincoln Riley
Star Black quarterbacks no longer are the exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the football season, this series will explore the prominence and impact of Black quarterbacks from the grassroots level to the NFL.
CHICAGO – Yet again during Week 1 of an NFL season, USC coach Lincoln Riley made time to watch the first game of a rookie quarterback who won a Heisman Trophy in college and was a No. 1 overall draft pick.
Having mentored three passers who have earned those distinctions, Riley enjoys rooting for his guys.
On Sunday afternoon, Riley watched his most recent protégé begin a new journey, tuning in to see quarterback Caleb Williams lead the Chicago Bears to a 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field.
Williams, chosen first by Chicago out of USC during the NFL draft in April, did not have an auspicious debut statistically. In fact, he completed only 14 passes in 29 attempts for 93 passing yards – an average of a paltry 3.2 yards per attempt – with no touchdown passes. Also a productive runner in college, Williams gained only 15 yards rushing.
Foremost, however, quarterbacks are judged on the success of the group. Despite Williams’ rough outing in his first start, his teammates picked him up while rallying from a 17-point deficit in the second quarter.
Chicago returned a blocked punt for a touchdown and an interception for a touchdown. The Bears totaled three turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Titans collapsed, enabling the Bears to leave the field pleased despite their problems on offense as Williams tried to find his way.
No matter the additional challenges Williams faces under the spotlight as a rookie – and there will be more – he won’t wither, Riley said.
“With all the attention and all that’s on him being the first pick, and being in the city of Chicago, you want somebody that’s not gonna shy away from it,” Riley told Andscape. “He’s certainly not gonna do that.”
Quinn Harris/Getty Images
With Williams at their controls, Riley is confident the Bears will have many great days ahead. And few know Williams better than the man who coached him for all three seasons he played collegiately.
While the coach at Oklahoma, Riley convinced Williams, formerly a prep standout at Gonzaga College High School in Washington to sign with the Sooners. After Riley surprisingly departed Oklahoma for the same position at USC in 2022, Williams joined the Trojans soon after.
Under Riley’s tutelage, Williams won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore. The Bears opened the 2024 NFL draft by selecting Williams with the top pick. Now, Williams continues the process of trying to fulfill his dream of becoming both an NFL superstar and a Super Bowl champion.
Admittedly, Riley is biased. That established, he’s confident Williams is headed where he wants to go. How fast Williams gets there, Riley said, will depend on how quickly he adapts to the rigors of playing the most important position in football at the game’s highest level.
“He definitely improved [from his freshman season to his junior season], he put it the work to do it, and it was obvious,” said Riley, who leads the nation’s 13th-ranked team.
“And he would be the first to tell you that he’ll just have to keep improving, especially as he adapts to the NFL game, and he continues to grow as a player and faces different challenges. I mean, teams played him a little bit different last year than in his first couple of years. You know that’s gonna continue to happen. People are gonna always continue to try to evolve the way that they attack.
“They’re not just gonna sit there and just let you beat ’em game in and game out and not try new things. You better be ready to adapt yourself. That’ll be part of his growth. But that won’t come as a surprise to him. Certainly, he sees that. And he continues to be a student of the game. He studies the game and he learns. He knows that will be a big part of it. He knows that certainly will be a critical factor in his success. He knows to continue to be able to move the ball and win games, that has to happen.”
Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
Among college coaches, Riley is second to none at developing star college quarterbacks.
While at Oklahoma, he tutored Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, who each won Heisman Trophies and were the top picks in their draft classes. Additionally, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was a Heisman Trophy finalist while playing for Oklahoma after transferring from Alabama.
In the NFL, Mayfield finished second in voting for the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Last season, he became a Pro Bowler for the first time. AP voters chose Murray as the top rookie on offense, and he’s a two-time Pro Bowler. Hurts led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance, and he finished as the runner-up for the AP MVP.
On its face, Williams has much in common with the other members of Riley’s successful quarterback club. On closer inspection, however, Williams enters the NFL somewhat differently from his predecessors who were conductors in Riley’s system.
“The one thing is, he just has played a lot less ball than those other guys have,” Riley said. “Those guys were older at the end of their [college] careers. All those guys got to play their full high school careers. Caleb missed his senior year because of COVID.
“Those guys were a little bit further along. They just saw more, experienced a little bit more, played a little bit more. And when you play a little bit more ball, you see more from a talent perspective. But he is right up there with any of them in terms of his abilities. He’s a really unique talent.”
Although he isn’t one to make specific predictions about how Williams will fare in the league, Riley is confident the Bears will get Williams’ best each day.
“He constantly asks himself what could I do better to be more prepared the next time. Then he does the work to be better,” Riley said. “If they [the Bears] can get the right players around him, and really get him settled in, he’ll start to take off.”
And Riley would eagerly find some more TV time to watch that.