Ted Phillips didn’t mean to do it.
He didn’t get on that Zoom call with the Chicago Bears beat writers in January 2021 planning to condense the charter franchise’s long-running identity crisis with a pithy, viral quote that would haunt him for the rest of his days as the embattled Bears president.
But he said it. And it was perfect.
“Have we gotten the quarterback situation completely right? No,” Phillips said after an 8-8 season in 2020. “Have we won enough games? No. Everything else is there.”
That about it sums it up, doesn’t it?
For decades, Chicago’s quarterback issues have led to a lot of losing seasons for the Bears. Starting in 1966 (the first year of the Super Bowl era), the Bears have had 32 losing campaigns compared to 19 winning ones.
The list of starting quarterbacks over that time would make a Cleveland Browns fan blush. On Thursday, USC’s Caleb Williams will add his name to the organization’s tortured history and, like those who have come before him, promises to be different. But he is different. He’s going to be a No. 1 overall pick. He was the consensus top QB in college football. He can be The One instead of another one.
GO DEEPER
Bears only have eyes for Caleb Williams at No. 1; could they go defensive tackle next?
Chicago has heard it before.
Back in the early days of 2021, in between the departure of Mitch Trubisky and the arrival of Justin Fields, The Athletic ran a series about the team’s long, strange history of quarterbacks.
The fans have spoken. They love our Bears QB series. Check it out and share their joy. https://t.co/ldLPLiPVrS pic.twitter.com/oxPy0vmIPR
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) February 14, 2021
Given the outside attention that is on the franchise, it’s a good time to revisit it.
We wrote about Sid Luckman and Johnny Lujack and how in 1948, two years after his fourth NFL title of the 1940s, George Halas had a quarterback room to envy with those two and future Hall of Famer Bobby Layne. Four years later, they were all gone. Sid’s son Bob, who still lives in the Chicago area, gets a kick out of when his old man is mentioned on national broadcasts. How many other World War II-era QBs still get air time in the 21st century?
In our series, we wrote about the oft-forgotten Bill Wade, who won that 1963 championship, and Bobby Douglass, who could’ve been something special. We covered Vince Evans, the team’s first Black starting quarterback, and the guy who replaced him, Jim McMahon, the Bears’ first Punky QB.
We analyzed the Rick Mirer trade and what Jay Cutler’s backups thought of him. We compiled all of the great games from Bears QBs and an abridged account of the worst ones. We asked former center Olin Kreutz to name all of the quarterbacks he snapped a ball to.
It was the trip down memory lane that no one asked for.
When longtime Bears fans (those who predate the Mike Ditka years) speak of the old days, they bring up Ed Brown and Rudy Bukich, Jack Concannon and Bob Avellini with a nostalgic sense of derision.
From left, Johnny Lujack, Sid Luckman and Bobby Layne pose in 1948 during the best of times for Bears QBs. (Associated Press)
As for me, a Steelers fan sentenced to cover the Bears for some unknown sin, I’ll never forget watching an aged Todd Collins try to win a game in Carolina or Mike Glennon attempt to convince us (and maybe himself) that he would start an entire season over the rookie Trubisky. I was there when a press box chuckled at Jonathan Quinn and when a Bears executive rifled a stat sheet against a wall after a Cutler interception. I’ve tried to make sense of it all.
One could argue the organization’s “QB or Bust” era began in 2009 when GM Jerry Angelo traded for Cutler. In the 15 seasons that followed, the Bears have had three would-be franchise quarterbacks, three winning seasons and three playoff appearances. Their record in that span is 107-136, which equates to a .440 winning percentage.
Cutler, Trubisky, Fields. Each had so much potential. Each had their moments. Cutler owns most Bears passing records. Trubisky showed early promise. Fields captured our imaginations. Their intertwined legacies will be the arguments they inspired as they are the Bears quarterbacks of the Twitter age.
And now here comes Williams, a new contender to be the orange-and-blue savior of the founding franchise.
While it was a no-brainer for GM Ryan Poles to trade Fields to pave the way to draft Williams, there are concerns. Right or wrong, unnamed NFL coaches and trying-to-make-their-name football analysts have volleyed questions about Williams’ makeup, his personality and, more importantly, how his improvisational style will fare in a league that regularly provides a reality check to high-flying collegiate stars.
And it’s not just the quarterbacks who have failed the Bears. The Bears have failed them. Bad coaching, organizational dysfunction, ill-suited timelines, poor rosters. It takes a village to ruin a quarterback. With that in mind, are the Bears set up to succeed with Williams? As The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Kevin Fishbain wrote, there are questions.
GO DEEPER
Bears NFL Draft big board: Caleb Williams and 50 more prospects of interest
Over the last 15 years, the team’s never-ending quarterback quandaries have dominated Bears conversations. And the tone of those discussions has ranged from delusional to unpleasant. The cycle of hope, reality, despair and change remains unbeaten.
But maybe Williams is the guy to change it. There are signs. Though the Bears traded draft picks to get Cutler, Trubisky and Fields, weakening the roster, this time, Poles is drafting Williams with a pick he received from a savvy trade. Maybe it’s an omen.
I never got the sense that any of the three were truly comfortable in their position. Beyond their unique personalities, I believe that reticence stemmed from their lack of success. Cutler had two just two winning seasons (his coach, Lovie Smith, was fired after the second one), Trubisky had one, Fields … not even close.
Being the Bears QB is not for the sensitive or the thin-skinned. It carries with it the weight of expectations and the burden of this team’s long, unhappy history.
Williams seemingly has the personality to take on the challenge, along with the physical skills to succeed in it. But it’s just talk right now. It won’t feel real until we see it.
For the Bears to start winning again, they need Williams to be the guy they’ve been dreaming about since the days of Luckman, Lujack and Layne. Quarterbacks and winning. It’s what the NFL is all about. Everything else is just background noise.
(Top photo of coach Matt Nagy talking with Mitch Trubisky in 2018: Patrick Gorski / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
