Bears prepare to face 'big talent' in QB Jayden Daniels as Commanders optimistic he'll play Sunday
Three days after the end of last season, it was clear Bears general manager Ryan Poles and his staff were deep into assessing their options at quarterback. They had a stagnant Justin Fields in one hand and the No. 1 overall draft pick in the other.
They weren’t necessarily set on drafting USC’s Caleb Williams at that stage, but they were ready to make a move. Several quarterbacks in what the Bears saw as a loaded draft class appeared to be an upgrade, including — high on the list — LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
As the Bears vetted prospects, nothing moved them off Williams, and there’s little doubt the Commanders or any other team would’ve taken him if they had been picking first. Poles attended Daniels’ pro day, but Williams was the only quarterback the Bears brought to Halas Hall for a visit.
When they drafted Williams, Daniels fell to the Commanders at No. 2. Now the top two picks and last two Heisman Trophy winners will face off Sunday in Landover, Maryland.
Daniels is welcome to interpret the Bears’ decision to select Williams as a snub, but it wasn’t that they didn’t believe in him; they just believed in Williams a little more. Williams was thought to be more of a sure thing, but the Bears saw the high end of their potential as similar, and coach Matt Eberflus hinted at that Monday.
‘‘He’s got a real good future ahead of him,’’ Eberflus said of Daniels. ‘‘You can certainly see how he reads the field, his vision, his anticipation, his accuracy, his ability to escape, his ability to do the QB runs. . . . He’s a big talent.’’
That was evident immediately, as Daniels opened his NFL career red-hot. He hit a snag Sunday, however, when he missed most of the Commanders’ blowout of the Panthers because of a rib injury and backup Marcus Mariota stepped in for him. But coach Dan Quinn said Monday he is ‘‘hopeful [Daniels] can play’’ against the Bears.
It would be Williams’ first game against one of the other five quarterbacks drafted among the top 12 picks this year. He’ll face the Patriots’ Drake Maye (No. 3 pick) in two weeks and might have a long rivalry with the Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy (No. 10 pick) once he recovers from a knee injury that wiped out his rookie season.
It’s a key game for both teams, and Williams and Daniels are vying for Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. Even with Williams’ recent uptick, Daniels has the lead.
While Williams struggled in his first three games, Daniels was good in his first two, then great in his third: 21-for-23 for 254 yards, two touchdown passes, a touchdown run and a brilliant 141.7 passer rating against the Bengals.
His 107.0 passer rating leads the rookie class by nearly 20 points over Williams and is sixth in the NFL. His league-best 75.6 completion percentage is more than 10 points better than Williams’. Williams tops the rookies with nine touchdown passes to Daniels’ six, followed by Maye and the Broncos’ Bo Nix (No. 12 pick) with five.
Daniels also has 372 yards and four touchdowns rushing, showing the blend of passing and running that made him a college star works in the NFL, too. In his Heisman season last year, he threw for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns and ran for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns.
‘‘This kid provides a lot of challenges,’’ Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards said, emphasizing the danger of giving Daniels room to run.
Daniels’ rise highlights one of the difficult things about the Bears’ rebuild. They’ve had to address the many issues they had when Poles and Eberflus took over, but their project also is competing against everyone else’s.
The Commanders have won more games in Daniels’ seven starts than they did all last season. If he keeps them on that path, he’ll be another hurdle for Williams and the Bears.