Green Bay Packers fans already don’t like Caleb Williams. Part of it is because he’s the quarterback for the Chicago Bears. That hatred comes like a starter set. However, it reached another level last season when he stunned the Packers at Lambeau Field with a 24-22 comeback in the 4th quarter. It was the first time the Bears had beaten Green Bay in six years, and it seemed to kill their momentum going into the playoffs. Watching Williams celebrate running off the field has stuck with them for months.

Well, it appears the Bears quarterback doesn’t care much about their hatred. After all, he casually decided to poke the bear (no pun intended) a little more. During an interview with Kyle Brandt of Good Morning Football, he was asked a straightforward question. Is eventually doing a Lambeau Leap at Lambeau Field one of his goals at some point? Williams didn’t even try deflecting. He outright admitted that he’s aiming to do one sooner or later, knowing full well it might cause a reaction from Packers fans.

Caleb Williams no doubt just put Green Bay fans on high alert.

This statement could threaten to cause a legitimate riot from people in the stands if he tries something. Contrary to what they want you to think, Packers fans are every bit as fierce and unfriendly as anybody else in the NFL. Seeing Williams score a touchdown during the game alone will grate on their nerves. Knowing he is angling for a Lambeau Leap on top of it may push them over the edge. Perhaps the Packers will make it irrelevant by taking control of the game early and making it a runaway.

History says not to count on it. This Bears team is a pest. They have annoying ways of hanging around in games, refusing to get knocked out. It would take a monumental surge from Green Bay to put them down early. Anything is possible. Smart money says Caleb Williams will bring his best in this one. He seems to love playing the Packers, which is not something previous Bears quarterbacks could say. This young man is brash enough to consider that leap. It will only be about when.

Jay Cutler must feel a little bit envious of Caleb Williams these days. The former quarterback spent eight seasons with the Chicago Bears from 2009 to 2016. While he would finish with most of the franchise’s passing records in that time, most people remember it as a turbulent period where Cutler never quite achieved his full potential. A significant reason for this was the constant instability within the coaching staff. The Bears changed head coaches three times and offensive coordinators five times. They never found their definitive guru who could help Cutler excel.

He feels that has changed with the arrival of Ben Johnson. Even before things got going this year for the Bears, Cutler was texting his friends Waddle & Silvy of ESPN 1000 that Johnson is “the man.” The quarterback actually worked with the young coach during his rise with the Miami Dolphins in the 2010s. It didn’t take long to recognize Johnson had an incredibly sharp mind. Having watched him work since then, Cutler revealed that he sees a familiar face when watching the coach run the offense.

Hall of Fame legend Mike Shanahan.

Jay Cutler understands Shanahan better than most.

The two-time Super Bowl winner drafted the quarterback in 2006 with the Denver Broncos. They spent three years together, with the third culminating in a Pro Bowl for Cutler. Shanahan was somebody who operated differently from your typical offensive wizards. While Don Coryell, Bill Walsh, Jon Gruden, Mike Martz, and Andy Reid all sought to revolutionize through the passing game, Shanahan brought about a renaissance in running the football. His outside-zone scheme took the league by storm and helped John Elway finally win his championships. The offense was designed to protect the quarterback by keeping the defense honest and fully utilizing play-action.

Johnson is built the same way. He is the most creative run schemer in the NFL today. Only Shanahan’s son, Kyle, is in the same tier. This has made Chicago the #1 rushing team in the league and has made them lethal on play action. Jay Cutler knows what this style of offense can do for the success of an organization. He saw it first-hand. If not for some atrocious defenses in 2007 and 2008, his teams would’ve made the playoffs. Cutler no doubt still wonders how different his career might’ve been had Shanahan not been fired.

The good news is that Williams finds himself in a similar situation all those years ago. All he has to do is listen to Johnson, and everything will be fine.

People have tried to downplay the impact of the Chicago Bears this season. They’re being called lucky and a pretender after reaching 9-3. That is fine. Such is the territory of being a team that has won several games with 4th quarter comebacks and hasn’t been good in a long time. Yet one thing those critics can’t deny is the impact the Bears have left on teams in their wake. After stunning the Las Vegas Raiders 25-24, the team deflated so much that they were crushed 40-6 by Indianapolis the next week, sending their season into a full tailspin. Washington was 3-2 going into Monday night’s rematch from last year. Chicago’s comeback stunned them and kick-started what has become a seven-game losing streak.

Pittsburgh seemed to be righting the ship after a small skid with big wins over Indy and Cincinnati. Then the Bears ruined their visit to Soldier Field, 31-28. The Steelers were then crushed by Buffalo the next week, putting them at 6-6 and in danger of losing the division. It seems like every team they play that has high hopes sees its season spiral out of control. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the same might be happening to the Philadelphia Eagles, who apparently still haven’t recovered from the drubbing they took on Black Friday.

The Eagles are trying to shake off that ugly Black Friday loss to the Bears. I’m told this week, the team had a series of “no-BS discussions” ahead of a “Monday Night Football” meeting with the Los Angeles Chargers. The message? Stop pointing fingers. “We are all done with the finger-pointing,” one Philly player told me. “It’s not just one thing that’s in our way. It’s not just Jalen (Hurts), it’s not just Saquon (Barkley), it’s not just (OC Kevin) Patullo, it’s not just the offensive line. … It’s a little bit of everyone.”

The Chicago Bears feel like this season’s version of the Grim Reaper.

Everywhere they go, death seems to follow. That might be a little overdramatic, but you can’t argue the results. When a team has to call meetings to snuff out internal divisions after an ugly loss to you, it feels pretty noteworthy. Remember, they were 8-3 going into that game. Everybody felt the Eagles were the favorite to claim the #1 seed in the NFC. Not only were those hopes dashed, but now their hopes of even going far in the playoffs are being questioned. The best team in the NFL is experiencing an identity crisis, and it’s largely due to the Chicago Bears.

Meanwhile, they themselves have an identity nobody is confused by. The Bears are a run-first team with an opportunistic defense. They win by controlling the ball, wearing you down, and taking it away. That is how they’ve won nine of their last ten games. It probably isn’t enough to make them true Super Bowl contenders, but one thing is clear. Every team that comes across them should be very careful. Bad stuff seems to happen if you lose.

Caleb Williams is in a weird place. When talking to fans, most of them feel the Chicago Bears quarterback is average. His numbers aren’t anything special and his accuracy issues are an Achilles heel for this football team. Meanwhile, if you speak to people who have played or coached the game, they see a young player who is maturing rapidly and learning the game at its fundamental level. The signs are there that a breakthrough is coming. All it takes is a little more patience for him to bring it all together.

One person who is convinced the Bears found a real one is Ron Rivera. The former linebacker and defensive coordinator for the franchise had a part in the team’s last two Super Bowl runs. He knows what it takes to win a championship in this town. From what he’s seen, Williams has the goods. Rivera explained on Good Morning Football that the only thing holding the QB back at this point is learning not to force things. Don’t be afraid to dump the ball off or throw it away. Play within the game.

Once that happens, everything will fall into place.

Don’t dismiss Rivera’s assessment of Caleb Williams.

Yes, he’s a defensive guy, but this is a coach who understands the challenges of developing a young quarterback. He was the one who helped turn Cam Newton from a raw #1 overall pick into a league MVP. Newton had the same questions about him as Williams does. For all his incredible athletic gifts, he was a strong-armed passer with serious questions about his accuracy. While Newton never became a true pinpoint surgical type, he learned how to play efficiently. As a result, Carolina won a lot of football games and reached the Super Bowl in 2015.

Rivera has seen this blueprint work before. If Newton could do it, so can Caleb Williams. One could argue that the Bears quarterback is the more natural passer. He also has a much better coach guiding his development in Ben Johnson. This is a man who played the position himself and is widely considered one of the best offensive minds in the game today. Given enough time and patience, Williams should blossom into one of the best quarterbacks the franchise has ever had. It’s about trusting the process.

Nahshon Wright is easily the best story of the 2025 season. Few people knew his name when the Chicago Bears signed him in the offseason. All they remembered was he was a former 3rd round pick of the Dallas Cowboys who hadn’t done much during his time with them. Expectations were Wright would compete in training camp for one of the last spots on the cornerback depth chart. His lack of special teams prowess didn’t help his odds. However, fate quickly intervened on his behalf.

Injuries struck the Bears’ cornerbacks almost right away. Jaylon Johnson suffered groin and core injuries that knocked him out until late November. Terell Smith tore his ACL. Kyler Gordon kept battling soft tissue injuries. In a short span of time, Wright went from fringe roster option to starter. Since then, he’s collected five interceptions, producing a season nobody on the planet saw coming.

While most people are happy for him, the same can’t be said for Minnesota Vikings fans. Wright’s ascent has them livid, but not for the reason you think. Judd Zulgad of SKOR North explained why.

Nahshon Wright was right there for the taking.

Minnesota traded for the cornerback in August of 2024. He would remain with the team in various capacities all the way until April of this year. That is eight full months of the Vikings coaching staff having him in the building, seeing what he could do. In that time, they reasoned Nahshon Wright wasn’t worth the trouble and cut him. Before the year is even over, the cornerback has five interceptions, two of them coming at the Vikings’ expense. That reality has left fans wondering if the team’s coaches can recognize young talent. Based on what the Bears have accomplished, they have concerns.

All of it serves as a reminder of how much things have changed in the past year. Chicago never used to be good at stuff like this. They were the organization that took good players and made them ordinary. Suddenly, they’ve taken in castoffs and turned them into Pro Bowlers. Wright will cash in this spring for a well-deserved payday. The fact that Minnesota, a supposedly first-class organization, was unable to accomplish that is a little extra salt in the wound.

Rome Odunze got off to a torrid start in 2025. Through his first seven games, he had 473 yards and five touchdowns. He looked well on his way to one of the best receiving seasons in recent Chicago Bears memory. Then things just kind of…went silent. Odunze has managed only 188 yards and one touchdown in his last five games. People wondered what had happened. It wasn’t a lack of targets. Caleb Williams was still looking his way frequently. The receiver simply wasn’t making the plays as he had before.

Now we know why.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network revealed that Odunze has been battling a stress fracture in his foot. From the sound of it, this has been going on for some time, meaning the receiver has endured it despite the obvious pain.

It is impossible to determine when the injury occurred. That said, Bears insider Adam Hoge of CHGO noted that Odunze’s routes began to lose their sharpness around the time of the game in Cincinnati. That means he either suffered the injury the previous week in Baltimore or at some point during that game. It is remarkable that he managed to play through it for over a month.

The Bears must make a tough decision on Rome Odunze.

There is no question that he is a vital part of their offense. At the same time, his long-term health is essential to their success. As much as they’d love to have him back quickly, fractures don’t heal easily. The smart thing for the Bears to do would be to shut him down for at least a couple of weeks. If the pain eases during that time, they could try bringing him back. Then again, perhaps the best course of action is to place him on Injured Reserve and sit him out for a month. It wouldn’t help the Bears’ playoff push, but they’ve shown they could navigate injuries to key guys before.

A healthy Rome Odunze could be a difference-maker if they do make the postseason. There is no question that either decision is a gamble. Based on how Ben Johnson has operated, it feels like a strong possibility the Bears will play it safe with Odunze. He will retool the offense around guys like D.J. Moore, Luther Burden, and Colston Loveland in the meantime. Chicago has alternatives. Ultimately, this must be about what is best for Odunze.