Bears keep it simple, smart by naming rookie Caleb Williams starting QB on Day 1

It was so obvious it truly didn’t need to be brought up, but when Bears coach Matt Eberflus was asked Friday whether No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams was immediately installed as the team’s starting quarterback — the other options are Tyson Bagent, Brett Rypien and undrafted free agent Austin Reed — he said, “No conversation. He’s the starter.”

The only significance of Eberflus saying publicly what everyone already knew is that it’s further evidence of the Bears making this move the right way — as opposed to the ham-handed onboarding of Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields as rookies.

Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles are facilitating Williams’ arrival in every way, giving him every advantage that Fields and Trubisky didn’t have. He will not go through the motions of starting out on second string.

That’s a huge piece of why the Bears had to unload Fields. While the trade with the Steelers was criticized because of how little the team got back — merely a 2025 sixth-round pick that would become a fourth if Fields plays 51% of the snaps — there was no scenario in which the Bears would’ve complicated the beginning of Williams’ career by having Fields in the building. They would’ve cut Fields outright if it came to that.

When the Bears drafted Fields No. 11 in 2020, it came a month and a half after they’d promised free agent Andy Dalton he’d be their Week 1 starter as part of their pitch to convince him to sign with them rather the 49ers. When Trubisky came in as the No. 2 overall pick, he sat behind pricey free agent Mike Glennon. Both Fields and Trubisky were hindered by those ill-conceived plans, but that won’t be a problem for Williams.