Bears select Caleb Williams with No. 1 pick in 2024 NFL Draft

The Chicago Bears have a new QB1.

With the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday, the Bears — as widely expected — selected former USC quarterback Caleb Williams.

Williams will attempt to bring success and stability to Chicago at a position that has seen little of it over the past 75 years.

This is the fifth time since 1999 that the Bears have used a first-round pick on a quarterback, dating back to when Chicago took Cade McNown with the 12th overall pick. McNown lasted only two seasons in the NFL, which led to Rex Grossman (2003), then Mitch Trubisky (2017) and, finally, Justin Fields (2021).  

Williams will hope to do what those who came before him could not: generate sustained success. 

Williams will have an early advantage, entering the league in an enviable situation for a No. 1 pick. While recent top overall picks Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars) and Bryce Young (Panthers) had their development set back after being thrown into chaotic environments on woeful teams, Williams is going to a Bears franchise apparently on the rise. 

Coming off a 7-10 season, the Bears boast one of the best WR duos in the league in D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen. They have a solid tight end in TE Cole Kmet, a young, ascending offensive line and a defense that could be among the league's best.

It is a far cry from the environments Trubisky and Fields entered, as both joined losing teams led by outgoing head coaches who orchestrated faux QB competitions against aging, mediocre veterans (Mike Glennon in 2017 and Andy Dalton in 2021).  

The Bears will enter the 2024 season with the sincere belief that they've finally found a franchise QB for the first time in the Super Bowl era.

Born and raised in Washington D.C., Williams started his career as a true freshman at Oklahoma in 2021 before transferring to USC after one year to follow his head coach, Lincoln Riley. In his first season in Los Angeles, Williams led USC to an 11-3 season, throwing for 4,537 yards and 42 TD passes with only five interceptions en route to comfortably winning the Heisman Trophy.

Despite a 2023 season that failed to live up to the highs of 2022, Williams still threw for 3,633 yards, 30 TD passes and just five interceptions. He never relinquished his status as a generational quarterback prospect and the presumed first pick.

Bears GM Ryan Poles' decision to forego the opportunity to draft first overall last year turned out to be a franchise-altering move. The bounty he extracted from the Panthers — the ninth pick in 2023, first overall pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2025 and Moore — is a gift that keeps on giving.

And with Williams, the Bears hope they've just unwrapped the crown jewel.