Bears can't baby Caleb Williams — but keep your fingers crossed

When Patrick Mahomes was a rookie in 2017, the meaningless season finale was the only game he started that season.

But even then, Chiefs coach Andy Reid wasn’t going to take too many chances with the promising first-round pick against a Broncos’ defense with Von Miller on the field. So with the Chiefs leading the Broncos 24-10 in the fourth quarter, Reid pulled Mahomes and let third-stringer Tyler Bray turn out the lights.

But when the Broncos rallied for two touchdowns in a 3:59 span to tie the game 24-24 with 2:53 to play, Reid sensed an opportunity. He put Mahomes back in the game to see how the rookie would handle a big moment.

As it turned out, Mahomes was up to challenge. Starting at the Chiefs’ 21-yard line, he methodically completed passes of 13, 12, 13 and 14 yards on an 11-play, 67-yard drive (with the now almost perfunctory defensive penalty to negate a third-down incompletion) to set up Harrison Butker’s 30-yard field goal as time expired for a 27-24 victory.

Mahomes might have already done enough to convince the Chiefs to trade Pro Bowl starter Alex Smith and make Mahomes the starting quarterback in 2018 — he had completed 18 of 30 passes for 232 yards, no touchdowns and an interception for a 70.4 rating before the final drive. But his performance in the final drive was a nice confirmation for Reid that he what he thought he had was real.

That’s kind of what the Bears will be looking for from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams on Sunday against the Packers at Lambeau Field. It’s a meaningless game in the standings for the 4-12 Bears (the Packers can fall into the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoffs and face the 13-3 Eagles instead of the 10-6 Rams with a loss, if the Commanders lose to the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday). And it’s likely, if not a certainty, that Williams will be operating in a new offense next season. But every bit of confirmation helps at this point. An elite throw is an elite throw, regardless of the circumstances.

The Bears have the option of sitting Williams and not risking injury after he’s already been sacked an NFL-high 67 times this season. And he’ll be playing behind an offensive line that has struggled throughout the season and likely will be without two starters — left tackle Braxton Jones and left guard Teven Jenkins.

But interim coach Thomas Brown confirmed that Williams and all the healthy starters will play against the Packers. The idea of sitting Williams never came up with general manager Ryan Poles or team president Kevin Warren, Brown said.

“There’s a game that’s gonna be played,” Brown said. “So [there’s something] at stake as far as competing and winning a football game — which I think is maybe different from the outside world’s perspective — there’s always an opportunity at stake to go compete and be your best.

“As far as Caleb goes, that’s never come up or been talked about at all. Part of the overall evolution of him being his best self and continuing to find ways to continue to grow and be at his best week-in and week-out, and part of it is going to be able to learn, to protect himself better and be better around him from a protection standpoint. There’s an opportunity that’s not guaranteed. And I take that very seriously.”

NFL teams are loathe to take unnecessary risks. That’s why Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen are unlikely to play in the regular-season finale Sunday with nothing to gain. But they earned that right by taking risks earlier, in the name of career development. That’s where the Bears are now with Williams. He still needs to play. Just keep your fingers crossed.