Bears news: Caleb Williams makes history, Week 7 bye success, Bears in new places

These are good times to be a fan of the Chicago Bears. The team is on a three-game winning streak after obliterating the Jaguars in London, and now Matt Eberflus and the boys get to fly home and enjoy the bye week before a showdown with the Commanders in Week 7.

Not everyone is ready to jump on the Bears bandwagon just yet. Detractors point to the fact that the Bears' run has come against three teams (the Rams, Panthers, and Jags) that have just one win each. Anyone who's actually watched the games, though, would have to admit that the Bears look like a real contender. They've won by a combined 45 points the past two weeks on the back of a stout and opportunistic defense, a newly-discovered running game, and the continued evolution of Caleb Williams at quarterback.

Caleb came to Chicago with the weight of history upon his shoulders. No pressure, right? But after looking very much like a rookie against the Titans and Texans to open the season, the former Heisman Trophy-winner has been putting on a show through the air.

It's not too early to say that the hype around Caleb was real. The Bears quarterback record book, modest though it may be, is about to be rewritten, so let's start our news of the week with him following his four-touchdown effort in London.

Caleb Williams is already making history

The Bears haven't had a quarterback worth getting this excited about since Virginia McCaskey got her first television set. Decades have passed since Sid Luckman led the Bears to glory, but while other franchises' quarterbacks have been allowed to peacefully recede into history, Luckman has never been able to fully achieve eternal rest thanks to nearly 75 years of Windy City quarterback purgatory.

That time is coming to an end, and soon. Caleb Williams is the prince that was promised, and he's doing things on the field that Bears fans haven't seen in a long time. Sunday's game against the Jaguars marked the third straight game that he finished with a passer rating over 100, a feat last achieved by Jay Cutler in 2009.

Caleb also led the entire NFL with an 87.9 QBR this week. Can you remember a time when the Bears had a quarterback that outplayed the rest of the league? I sure can't. No matter which way you slice the numbers, Caleb was elite. He was 13 for 14 when getting the ball out quickly, and he nearly threw as many touchdowns (4) as incompletions (6).

Caleb is on pace for over 3,700 passing yards, and with the way he's progressing every week, it's not inconceivable that he could double Mitch Trubisky's Bears rookie record of 2,193. His nine touchdown passes are only two away from catching Charlie O'Rourke's team rookie record of 11 that he set back in (gulp) 1942.

Rewriting the Bears rookie record book isn't so impressive on its own, but it's the first step in bigger and better things for Caleb and this team. This is just the beginning.

Week 7 bye weeks have been good to the Bears

So much of football, and sports in general, is able to be tracked by numbers. We love statistics, and recent years have given us more and more ways to quantify who's the best and why.

As much as I love the data revolution, I'm a superstitious fan at heart, and I adore the kinds of unexplained phenomena that shouldn't mean anything, yet somehow do. If you're like me, you'll love this little nugget. Since the NFL reinstituted the bye week into the schedule in 1990, the Bears have had a Week 7 bye six times. In five of those seasons, they've reached the playoffs, and in four of them, they've won at least 11 games.

What does this mean as the Bears embark on another Week 7 bye? Probably nothing, but when you're 4-2 and fighting to stay competitive in the toughest division in football, you'll take any indicator you can get that a special season is in the offing.

For those wondering how the Bears have done after coming out of a Week 7 bye, they have a record of 4-2 in Week 8. Get your popcorn ready for Bears-Commanders.

Checking in on former Bears around the league

As Bears fans, it's difficult to ever fully let go of players that once donned the navy and orange but play elsewhere now. When you cheer for a player every Sunday for years, it's only natural to still root for their success from afar after they leave.

Ryan Poles has done a fantastic job in shaping the current version of the Bears into a contender, so it's no slight on the 2024 Bears for fans to be interested in what some former favorites are up to. Let's check in on some former Bears around the league.

It's safe to say that the Bears made the correct choice in drafting Caleb Williams and trading Justin Fields. As we went over above, Caleb has shown himself to be deserving of the hype by doing things in just six games that Bears fans have never seen before. There's still a lot of love for Justin in Chicago, though, and most Bears fans were heartened to see him doing well in Pittsburgh as the starting quarterback of the Steelers after Russell Wilson was sidelined with a calf injury.

Fields hasn't lit the world on fire from a statistical perspective, but he's only turned the ball over once while making enough plays to help the Steelers to a surprising tie for the AFC North lead at 4-2. It seems that wasn't enough to earn him the job going forward though, as Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stunned the league by announcing on Tuesday that Wilson would get first-team reps this week, presumably with the intention to start over Fields.

This drama is a long way from over, especially with the Steelers in position to contend for the playoffs. Most Bears fans are rooting for Fields to succeed, but at the same time, it feels good to have our QB1 locked up.

Darnell Mooney is another Bear that has found success this year, though his quality play has been a bit more surprising given the ineffectiveness he showed at the end of his Bears career. Mooney signed with the Falcons as a free agent in March, and he's already well on his way to blowing away his statistical output from the last two years.

Mooney has 27 receptions for 368 yards and three touchdowns as one of Kirk Cousins' top targets. That's as many touchdowns as he scored in the past two seasons combined, and with his current 1,000-yard pace, he should surpass each season's yards and receptions totals in another two or three games. Bears fans were skeptical of the three-year, $39 million deal Mooney signed, but it's looking like a smart move for the Falcons.

David Montgomery hasn't played for Chicago since 2022, but he still feels like a Bear. He's been thriving as a touchdown-producing machine with the Lions as part of a two-headed backfield monster with Jahmyr Gibbs. Montgomery has scored a touchdown in every game this year, and has 19 in as many games since signing with Detroit in 2023.

The Bears will try to stop Montgomery when they travel to Detroit on Thanksgiving, then again when they host the Lions a few days before Christmas.

Other former Bears haven't had the same impact as Fields, Mooney and Montgomery. Defensive tackle Justin Jones signed with the Cardinals this offseason on a three-year, $31 million contract, but he's out for the year with a triceps injury. Safety Eddie Jackson is now with the Ravens but playing backup minutes behind All-Pro Kyle Hamilton, while D'Onta Foreman has just 39 carries for the Browns while splitting time with Jerome Ford. Ford hurt his hamstring on Sunday, but Foreman's time in the spotlight will be short-lived with the imminent return of Nick Chubb.