Chicago Bears Mock Draft 1.0: is Caleb Williams too enticing to pass up?

CHICAGO, Ill. – This is what the next four months of the season will look like for the Chicago Bears. Plenty of speculation, plenty of opinions and almost too much discourse to handle.

It’s officially draft season, and Bears general manager Ryan Poles is on the clock.

At this point of the offseason, this is our first stab at a Bears mock draft.

Chicago Bears 2024 NFL Draft selections

The Bears have two first-round picks thanks to its trade with the Carolina Panthers last season but don’t have a second-round pick after trading for Montez Sweat.

The Bears have a third-round pick and two fourth-round picks, thanks to trading back with Philadelphia last season in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Right now, the Bears’ fifth-round pick is their final pick of the draft unless Poles works the same magic he did in 2022 and turns a few day-three picks into many.

Round 1, No. 1 overall – Caleb Williams, QB: USC

You can’t overlook the potential.

Houston and CJ Stroud showed this season that it’s possible to be successful and win postseason games with a rookie quarterback. Williams, on paper, is a better prospect than Stroud was heading into the draft, too.

The Heisman winner from USC by way of Oklahoma threw for 10,082 yards and 93 passing touchdowns in three seasons at the college level. He also completed 66.9 percent of his throws while throwing just 14 interceptions.

Four of those interceptions were in one game against Notre Dame, but one game does not overshadow the body of work he compiled that made him a potential franchise-changing pick at quarterback.

Most importantly, Williams did not fumble the ball once during his time in college. Take away that Notre Dame game, and Williams only threw one interception during the 2023 season. Those kinds of stats and the highlights that come with it dial down any flaws Williams has.

The potential is there. What makes this pick difficult to predict is the lack of an offensive coordinator.

Without one in place its hard to forecast what the Bears could do, or try to do, with Fields. In this case, we’ll assume this means the Bears will use their first overall selection on the game’s most important position and reset the clock with a quarterback on his rookie contract.