The Chicago Bears had massive expectations when they selected Caleb Williams with the No.1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
This was a Heisman Trophy winner and the closest thing to Patrick Mahomes any talent evaluator had seen coming out of college.
Williams was supposed to finally be the savior at quarterback the Bears have been seeking for decades, but after a more than shaky rookie campaign, questions began to emerge if he is the right player to get the franchise over the hump.
While Williams set the record for the most total yards ever for a Bears rookie QB (4,030), and finished his first NFL season with 20 touchdowns, six interceptions and added another 489 yards as a runner, he took a league-leading 68 sacks and made erratic decisions throughout the year.
The Bears fired their head coach during the middle of the season and finished with just a (5-12) record, so heading into 2025, there was cautious optimism.
The combination of Ben Johnson as head coach and Williams at QB proved to be an electric one in 2025, as the second-year quarterback led the Bears to an (11-6) record which was good enough to win the division. Time after time, Williams found a way to lead Chicago to a late fourth-quarter win, earning the nickname “Iceman” along the way
Former Bears safety Kevin Byard thinks Caleb Williams is a future NFL MVP
Speaking to Offseason Playbook on CBS Sports, former Bears safety Kevin Byard, who signed a deal with the Patriots this offseason talked about how clutch Williams was for the Bears in 2025.
“He already has the nickname Iceman, and the reason why, young quarterbacks are going to need time to develop but when you talk about game on the line and we need him to make a play, there’s really nobody I’d rather have under center,”
Byard went on to make the bold statement that he believes Williams will will eventually win the MVP.
“He had eight games where we needed him to make a play to win the game, and he made the, That’s a lot of games, he’s only in Year 2. His trajectory, the sky is truly the limit with this guy, if he continues to develop and become a better passer, a better everything, he’s still very young. I think when you talk about quarterbacks coming from college, the game is so different, most of these guys have never taken a snap under center, Ben Johnson came in and reconstructed everything. The sky is the limit for this guy, I think personally he’s going to be MVP one day, and I think it’ll be sooner than later.”
Williams will have to prove he can put together back-to-back impressive seasons in the NFL before there will be any real talk about him in the MVP conversation, but it’s easy to see why Byard is so optimistic about his potential.
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