What initially seemed to be a catastrophic season-ending injury turned out to be a minor ailment. Caleb Williams will be back this season, though his injured hamstring will force him to miss a game for the first time in his career.
According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, Williams suffered a grade two hamstring strain, meaning he'll miss the next three or four weeks. While that's far from ideal, it's definitely better than what most people expected at the time.
The Bears will most likely start veteran third-stringer Case Keenum on Monday night vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, with Tyson Bagent potentially reclaiming the reins of the offense once he clears the concussion protocol.
The Bears should be able to get by without Caleb Williams
This will be the first time in Ben Johnson's coaching career (both as a head coach and assistant coach) that he won't have his starting quarterback on the field. Suffice to say, it'll be a big challenge for the second-year coach.
That said, the Bears still have more than enough weapons to get by in Williams' absence, not to mention the fact that the schedule will be somewhat forgiving in the month the former No. 1 pick will watch from the sidelines.
Following their primetime matchup with the Eagles, the Williams will host the New York Jets in the first weekend of October. Then, they have road matchups with the struggling Atlanta Falcons and the slumping Green Bay Packers.
Granted, being without your best player is always a challenge, and the Bears will have to adjust accordingly. Also, they can't afford to look down on any of their opponents, regardless of how poorly they've fared thus far.
That said, it definitely could've been much worse. The Eagles, while strong on both sides of the ball, are wildly inconsistent, and the Jets are, well, the Jets. Then, we have a Falcons team that failed to run a single play in the opposition's end zone for two weeks, and a Packers team with a revolving door at the offensive line.
The Bears should hang their hat on the stout quarterback room they've built. Bagent and Keenum are no Caleb Williams, but they're two of the top-tier backups in the game. That can be the difference between kissing the season goodbye and keeping the ship afloat.
Soft-tissue injuries are tricky and tend to linger, and the Bears will most definitely err on the side of caution with their franchise player. So, if his backups can hold down the fort, maybe they'll feel comfortable holding him out for another game.
We need him healthy in January, not in October.
| More Bears on DaWindyCity |
Add us as a preferred source on Google