Caleb Williams didn’t throw a pass on Wednesday, but he still came out of the night looking better in the quarterback conversation.
That’s the strange part of the offseason debate that had some rankings placing Drake Maye ahead of Williams. For Bears fans, it was a hard sell from the jump, especially with Maye being boosted by a Super Bowl appearance that, in their view, ignored the playoff road and how he performed when the pressure was highest.
Then came Week 1.
Maye’s debut landed under the brightest possible spotlight, and it went sideways fast. He threw three interceptions, with each one arriving at a costly moment.
The last one was the killer: a game-losing pick that wiped out a chance to tie the game from comfortable field-goal range. It was the kind of decision that sticks because it was so avoidable.
There was also the matter of the game itself. Sam Darnold was knocked out only five snaps in, and Maye still wound up outplayed by Seattle backup Drew Lock. Seattle pulled out a 13-10 win, and the result only sharpened the argument that Williams has the edge when it comes to the best quarterback from the 2024 class.
Of course, one game doesn’t settle anything on its own. But it did put Maye’s struggles back in the spotlight, and that matters when the discussion is about who handles the biggest moments.
Williams has built a reputation for being at his best when the game tightens up and the stakes rise. Maye, at least in this showing, looked like a quarterback who had trouble answering that kind of pressure.
Williams also gets a much friendlier opening to the 2026 season, going against a Carolina defense that looks far less intimidating. That gives him a chance to start fast and pile up numbers right away, while head coach Ben Johnson has already made noise by talking about a record-setting offense.
If Chicago gets what it’s hoping for, that early stretch could go a long way toward ending the Williams-Maye argument for good. Wednesday night certainly nudged things in Williams’ direction, and it reminded plenty of people why the Bears were so convinced they had the right guy at No. 1.
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