On paper, there isn’t much to say about the Chicago Bears hosting the New Orleans Saints. Both teams feature new head coaches trying to develop young quarterbacks. Ben Johnson has had more success thus far, going 3-2 in his first five games, while Kellen Moore is 1-5; however, the Saints have played better than their record suggests. You could argue there might be some hard feelings from Dennis Allen. New Orleans fired him last year after the team lost seven straight following a 2-0 start. Much of this was due to quarterback Derek Carr and other key players not being healthy.
The truth is the story isn’t about that. It’s about the quarterbacks. Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler have a history. They were teammates at Oklahoma in 2021. Rattler was the starter when the season began, but he was replaced during what looked like a blowout loss to Texas in favor of Williams. The freshman led a comeback victory and never relinquished the starting job. Rattler was forced to transfer elsewhere, ending up at South Carolina. It’s pretty clear that the two don’t have warm feelings for each other.
Rattler is likely still bitter about what happened three years ago. He was projected as a 1st round pick going into that season. He started off pretty well. Then, in the one game he struggles a bit, he loses his job. Meanwhile, Williams wasn’t hiding his dissatisfaction at not being chosen as the starter, feeling he’d outplayed Rattler in practice all summer. He has zero remorse about how things went down.
The Chicago Bears hope to help their quarterback send a message.
Williams isn’t motivated by a personal desire to show up Rattler. He’s more like a racer who left somebody in his dust. His only goal is to win the football game. Still, reminding his former teammate that what happened four years ago was not a robbery but a course of inevitable events probably won’t hurt. Rattler has played well this season, managing to avoid costly mistakes. That said, he’s done it by not attacking down the field much, averaging just 6.0 yards per pass. Unless he’s willing to be more aggressive, it doesn’t feel like he’ll put up many points.
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At the same time, a Saints defense that is 25th in points allowed must go against a Chicago Bears offense that has scored at least 21 points in each of their first five games. Williams is playing some of his best football. If New Orleans can’t make him uncomfortable in this game, he’s liable to have a big afternoon.
