GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – Expectations are sky high in Chicago as the Caleb Williams era has begun with a lot of hype and potential.
Maybe Williams, thrown directly into the fire, will emerge unscathed from the flames and ashes and become the quarterback the Bears have been yearning for for years, giving them a decisive advantage. Or maybe he will perish in the inferno.
Over time, the NFC North could be dominated by Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers and Williams of the Bears, two talented quarterbacks who have taken completely different paths to the quarterback throne.
Of course, Love watched and learned from Aaron Rodgers for three years before leading the Packers to the playoffs last year as a starter in his first year.
“Many quarterbacks in this league are talented. They are just not ready for the situation,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated:. “They don’t have the right people around them. It’s a whole different game in terms of the amount of information they have to take in, process it and play quickly.”
Love’s education wasn’t just about reading the defense, adjusting to the tempo of the game, or mastering the offense. It was about… everything. In some ways, the intangibles are almost as important as the tangibles.
Williams will learn everything in no time.
Williams won a Heisman Trophy at USC and is considered one of the most promising quarterback candidates of recent years. Love was considered a promising young player at Utah State University.
At these schools, they were able to win through talent. But talent doesn’t get you far in the NFL.
For the NASA team attempting to rescue the Apollo 13 crew, failure may not have been an option, but for an NFL quarterback, it is a fact of life.
“Sitting on the bench those three years, going through a season and seeing Aaron approach it, it made me realize that not everything is perfect in the NFL,” Love told Breer.
“When you watch one of the best quarterbacks of all time, it’s tough for him. When it’s tough for him, you know it’s tough for everybody out there. It’s a team sport. Everyone out there on the field has to do their job.”
Rodgers won four MVP titles with the Packers, including with Love as his backup in 2020 and 2021. That it was hard even for one of the game’s greatest legends was an important lesson for Love as he navigated the ups and downs of life as a starter in his first year.
Before the 2023 season began, while Rodgers was in New York and Love was preparing for his big debut in Chicago, Rodgers told Packers On SI that Love was ready to release everything he had learned.
“It’s really, really exciting because you’re no longer that guy in college, you’re sitting there watching and learning,” Rodgers said. “You’ve always been that guy, and then you get on a team and you realize, ‘Oh, there’s a guy out there that’s better than me.’ Then it’s, ‘All right, I’m going to learn what that guy does and I’m going to figure out why he does this and that.'”
“And then it’s about developing his own identity and his own leadership style: all the things he’s done. He had three years, just like I had three years, and now it’s all the other fun stuff for him. Now he can figure out what kind of leader he wants to be for the guys, and as a starting quarterback he has all the power now. So it’s just like I told him: just be yourself.”
Love overcame a series of mistakes and put together a Rodgers-style winning streak that put the Packers in the playoffs. A “Holy Shit” Game This particularly reinforced LaFleur’s belief that Love was not only a talented football thrower, but also had the instincts to play the game.
A few weeks ago, the Packers rewarded him with a $220 million contract extension.
“I think it all goes back to remembering where you came from, remembering being the backup, standing behind the guy that was in that position, seeing him do his job,” Love told Breer. “And just remembering my freshman year when there were a lot of question marks, how that team stood behind me. Now we’re in a different situation. So don’t change. Be a good teammate. Be all those things that I was.”
“That’s why the guys respect you. They respect the work you do every day when you’re on the field with them and want to be as much of a leader as you can. I’m definitely not trying to pivot and do anything different. Just don’t forget where you came from.”
The Packers were right in their decision to select Love and have handled his development correctly. If the Bears are right about Williams and his development, the NFL’s most famous rivalry will be one of its most intense for the next 10 or 15 years.
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