Why Super Bowl Doesn't Support Bears Drafting Caleb Williams

It might be the Super Bowl and the Bears haven't been in one since before the recession.

Nevertheless, the 25-22 win by the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday in overtime against San Francisco says something about the Bears.

Any time an NFL game or games are played, it says something about any given team in the NFL.

The final game of the 2023 season said very obvious things about the Bears and some a little more subtle.

It also said something about the great decision at quarterback coming up for the Bears in the NFL Draft.

Here's what Super Bowl LVIII said about the Chicago Bears.

1. The Obvious

Ryan Pace, what were you thinking? 

It's been said countless times before but let's say it again: Ryan Pace, what were you thinking? Mitchell Trubisky or Patrick Mahomes? Wow.

2. Narrower Gap

The 49ers were within a fourth-and-1 play in overtime of winning the Lombardi Trophy.

They were the best team in the NFC but they beat Detroit by only a field goal. The Bears manhandled Detroit in Chicago and led by 12 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining at Detroit.

The gap between where the Bears are now and being able to play on such a high level against good teams seems great, but when the matchups and results are studied closely it seems like a less steep climb. They need to prove it isn't a steep climb.

3. Hitting Receiver Hard

San Francisco lost Deebo Samuel at times Sunday with an injury and had George Kittle leave but both came back. The 49ers just kept putting productive players on the field and these weren't all Day 1 or Day 2 draft picks.

Jauan Jennings was their leading wide receiver in the game with four catches and was a seventh-round pick. Brandon Aiyuk helped pick up the slack for Samuel, who still caught three passes for 33 yards. When Ray-Ray McCloud wasn't bumbling away the football on punt returns from in the red zone, even he caught a 19-yard pass.

The Bears lack depth of targets at receiver. They need to find more, possibly two or even three who can produce. It became apparent this season they can't count on anyone beyond DJ Moore and Cole Kmet last season. No playoff team wins with one wide receiver who can contribute.

Even the Chiefs were an example of this. No one liked Kansas City's attempt to replace Tyreek Hill when he left but the Chiefs have now won two Super Bowls without him, as they have found a decent receiver can be good with the right passer. It doesn't take the best receiver. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Rashee Rice, Justin Watson and even recycled Mecole Hardman made three catches or more for Mahomes to complement Travis Kelce, who came on strong late with nine catches for 93 yards.

4. Don't Worry About Tackles in Draft

The two starting Chiefs tackles were Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith. The two Bears starting tackles this year were better according to Pro Football Focus grades than both of those tackles, and better than one of the 49ers tackles as well.

The place to focus on the offensive line is center for now and also for depth at other spots.

5. Keep Finding Pass Rushers

As Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus insisted, you can never have too many pass rushers or cornerbacks. The Bears appear to have cornerbacks in sufficient numbers but to face teams like the Super Bowl combatants, the Lions or even the Packers, they need more than one pass rusher. They need to come at a team in waves with pass rushers from their line and not blitzes. The 49ers did this and it still wasn't enough. 

Jordan Love, Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff won't look nearly as comfortable trying to throw against the Bears secondary with constant, real heat applied.

The Super Bowl showed you need as many as possible who can do this because overtime games and even non-overtime games wear down pass rushers. At any time on the final Chiefs drive or the final 49ers drive a big play from the pass rush could have made the difference in determining the winner. Get more pass rushers and keep rotating.

6. The Caleb Williams Question

There was this belief among those who think the Bears should trade Justin Fields and draft Williams that if Mahomes won another Super Bowl it would support the idea the Bears should draft the USC QB. 

Williams was said to be like Mahomes and is the gifted QB who can deliver a Super Bowl win as an off-script playmaker.

The Chiefs win did not support this theory. In fact, it did as much to support the opposite idea, that they should keep Fields and trade the right to take Williams for extra picks to build the roster up as strong as possible.

Williams might do some things that resemble Mahomes' style, but there is only one Mahomes and even as good as he is he was barely good enough to beat the team that has surrounded a seventh-round QB with talent.

There is no other Mahomes. 

Calling Williams the next Mahomes is an awfully bold statement and it's unproven. Williams might resemble him in style somewhat, but a QB of even slightly less ability than Mahomes would never get away with trying many of the nutty things the Chiefs QB gets away with against the best defenses in the world. It would be disaster for a lesser player to try these things. 

And even with all of that ability on Sunday, the real Mahomes was only a hair better than the 49ers and their seventh-round QB. The 49ers were within one fourth down conversion of winning it all after they built up their roster and used the last pick of the draft at quarterback.

If the Bears move back for picks and draft either Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix, J.J. McCarthy or possibly even Jayden Daniels—depending on what they can get for the first pick—they can let the rookie QB learn behind Fields for a year before he would play. And who knows, maybe Fields does deliver with that one extra year?

Then they would have it within their means from the trade back to build up a roster potentially as good or better than the 49ers, except they would be surrounding a first- or second-round pick with that talent and not a seventh-rounder.

That could be the difference in an overtime period in a future Super Bowl against Mahomes. 

This doesn't necessarily mean Fields is the future QB either, but his chances or those of any first- or second-round QB taken would logically be better with a great roster around them than would the last player drafted and a great roster.

On Sunday, this could have been sufficient to win a Lombardi Trophy.