Interesting Bears Predictions, Context on OTAs, Trust Your Gut, and Other Bears Bullets

Chicago Bears 2024 Draft Grade commissioner Roger Goodell with Rome Odunze
Chicago Bears 2024 Draft Grade commissioner Roger Goodell with Rome Odunze

We’re probably a little early on schedule predictions like the one that Windy City Gridiron’s Bill Zimmerman put together. Still, I appreciate his efforts and found the write-up entertaining nonetheless.

  • Bill broke down every regular-season game and two playoff games for the Bears this season. Yes, two playoff games! This means that they won the first of the two, but I’ll encourage you to read the story to find out against whom.
  • I will also reserve the right not to share the exact details of Caleb Williams’ rookie season in Zimmerman’s write-up. I will tell you that he has Williams setting a Chicago Bears record and beating the Green Bay Packers in his first try (in overtime!). In the end, it may be a bit of (very early) fan fiction, but it’s completely conceivable that it plays out in a similar fashion, given what the team has and what we know.
  • Go check it out!
  • I wanted to lead with that, but I’ll tell you this now: it’s going to be a thin Saturday morning of Chicago Bears Bullets. I have to finish prepping my house and yard for my daughter’s party, and I’m doing it solo with my wife down for the count sick the last two days.
  • Now that the dust has settled on Caleb Williams’ “bad day” at Halas Hall on Thursday, I want to reintroduce a quote from Matt Eberflus, and you can do with it what you wish. “We’re not holding back,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We’re giving him a lot of information. We’re giving him the offense, and you want to be able to go through the whole offense before the offseason gets done, primarily most of it, and work it into the summer. We’ll have a plan for him there and work him into training camp and then go from there.”
  • My takeaway here: Caleb Williams is in the infancy of learning the Bears playbook, but the Bears feel pretty good about his ability to consume all of it by the time training camp rolls around. That’s evident in their claim that they’re throwing everything and the kitchen sink at him in May. Remember, when you ask yourself what’s different between Williams’ rookie season and overall developmental arc, this is a significant piece of that puzzle.
  • Williams is QB1 in Chicago today, not somewhere down the line. The Bears are confident in his ability to step into and thrive in that role, and that’s something new around here. It’s a breath of fresh air, and it really makes it easier to look past some “tough” days at the office (which we should be able to do anyway at this point in the calendar).
  • I know I mentioned the newest episode of 1920 Football Drive yesterday, but if you didn’t have time to watch the entire 40-minute episode, you should check this clip out:
  • There was plenty of conversation in the months leading up to the draft regarding what the Bears would do with the ninth overall selection, or more specifically, who was their top target there. I’ve said for months that Rome Odunze was that guy, and this peek behind the curtain into their war room on the draft night all but confirms that.
  • That’s not an “I told you so,” but rather a reminder that sometimes the obvious answer is the correct answer. In the never-ending flurry of mock drafts and planted information swirling around the NFL news cycle in the pre-draft leadup, things get cloudy, but Rome Odunze was (rightfully) always their top target at No. 9.
  • I think Annie Agar’s weekly videos are pretty funny as a football-at-large fan, but I can’t wait to dunk on her about this tweet in six months.
  • Seeing young men realize their dreams will never not be cool …
  • I’m not huge on ’85 Bears callbacks, but I dig this …
  • All right, I’m out. Have an excellent (and safe) holiday weekend, friends!
  • written by

    Patrick grew up in Chicago's Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).

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