Ryan Poles didn’t inherit a football team on January 25, 2022. The Bears were broke on the cap sheet and broken in the locker room. He could’ve patched the leaks and hoped for luck, but instead, Poles ate the losses and told fans to trust the process amid weekly beatdowns. “We knew this wasn’t going to be a quick fix,” he said after the 2023 season. After the 7-10 finish.

And this rejuvenated Windy City’s belief in the ‘big things’. For a moment, it also felt like the vision was working. Draft gems like Darnell Wright and Tyrique Stevenson gave the rebuild real teeth ahead of the ’23 season. But it looked ‘real’ when the possibility of flipping the 2024 Draft’s No. 1 pick into an asset came into the spotlight. Caleb Williams, the golden-ticket quarterback, Chicago had been praying for.

Alas, football gods don’t bless on command. The 2024 season was another wreck. Worse than the year before. 5-12 finish! Another year of fans watching hope fade by November. So, when the Bears quietly extended Poles through 2029, it felt quite like a gamble.

But that’s when Greg Olsen dropped another grenade on the Fox broadcast when he casually revealed, “Greg Olsen just said on the Fox broadcast that Ryan Poles told them he thinks when it’s all said & done Luther Burden will be better than Rome Odunze & DJ Moore lol.” Probably wasn’t meant for public ears, but shoutout to Olsen for that scoop. Translation? The Bears’ GM just threw two former first-round picks—Rome Odunze and DJ Moore—right under the bus in favor of a rookie who hasn’t even gotten through his first padded practice.

And that’s where the irony cuts deepest. Luther Burden III finally made his way back to Halas Hall this week, suiting up for his first padded session of training camp after missing all of OTAs and minicamp with a hamstring injury. The rookie is still a long way from top gear. He skipped team drills and looked more like a guy brushing rust off than the next Odunze. Burden has missed time since rookie minicamp in May, and those lost reps have put him behind the curve. Meanwhile, Odunze hasn’t wasted time proving he belongs.

Reports from camp say he’s already Caleb Williams’ go-to target, steadily overshadowing Moore, the one guy who’s been Chicago’s offensive rock through chaos. Quite a riddle for new head coach Ben Johnson. How do you balance a wide receiver room with an emerging star in Odunze, a proven vet in Moore, and a GM who’s already publicly crowned Burden the future? Poles’ comments just lights the flame under a unit that Caleb Williams has to make click if the Bears want to be more than offseason darlings.

Ben Johnson confirms Caleb Williams’ locked-in growth

Preseason usually feels like smoke and mirrors, but Caleb Williams gave the Bears something real to chew on. In just 13 snaps, he went 6-of-10 for 107 yards, threw a touchdown, and posted a 103.6 passer rating. Stats can mislead, but Ben Johnson’s words didn’t: “He’s really been locked in.”

Johnson doubled down on the point, acknowledging the ups and downs that come with any rookie quarterback. “Anytime you’re a young player, there’s usually a couple of steps forward and one step back,” he said. But this week, Williams stacked “the most good days in a row right now,” capped by his preseason showing. The next step, Johnson added, is keeping the momentum rolling.

Growth isn’t a straight climb. It’s two steps forward. One stumble back. And only then figuring out how to climb again. Johnson admitted it. Williams admitted it. They’ve had those days where the rhythm’s been shaky, when the offense jumped early, or when the throws just weren’t enough. Yet this past week, through practices with the Bills and his first real test under Johnson, Williams stacked good days. The red-zone dimes to Rome Odunze and the 45-yard strike to Olamide Zaccheaus. So, he’s here to seize control.

And that’s where the story flips from hype to substance. Williams isn’t pretending this is easy. “Maybe a bad practice or small things that I feel like I got over and then I took a step back,” he said. That honesty? That’s gold. Because it shows he sees the grind for what it is. Johnson’s challenge now? Keep him pushing in the same direction; keep those good days chained together until “locked in” becomes the norm, not the exception. We’re watching the foundation of something real.