Caleb Williams escaped the kind of injury scare that can wreck a season, but that doesn’t mean the Bears can rush anything.
When Williams went down against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2 at Soldier Field, the immediate fear was obvious. First came the question about an Achilles tear.
Once that was ruled out, the next worry was a hamstring tear. Instead, the Bears got Monday news that the initial tests were about as encouraging as they could have hoped for.
That’s the good news. The less comfortable part is what comes next.
Head coach Ben Johnson has already indicated Williams is week-to-week and likely to miss time, which puts the Bears in the kind of careful, uncomfortable waiting game teams hate but have to play. And for a player like Williams, whose game depends so much on movement, there’s a recent example that should be sitting right in front of everyone in the building.
Lamar Jackson’s 2025 hamstring situation is the cleanest blueprint.
Last season, the Ravens quarterback suffered a hamstring injury in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs. But Jackson later said the issue may have actually started the previous week against the Detroit Lions.
"I couldn't really burst [in the] Detroit game, but I didn't know what it was," Jackson said earlier this year. "I just thought it was just nagging until we played the Chiefs, and I tried to do a move.
I just felt my hamstring just like ... I can't even describe it to you this year.
It's crazy. But when it happened, it happened."
That matters because it suggests Jackson was already compromised before the Chiefs game, even if he kept playing. Then the injury clearly worsened, and he ended up missing the next three games before returning in Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins. Baltimore also had a Week 7 bye.
Jackson dealt with knee, ankle and toe issues later in the season as well, and it’s impossible to say exactly how much those were tied to the hamstring or the return timeline. Still, the sequence is useful for Chicago because it shows what can happen when a quarterback with real running ability comes back before he’s fully ready.
Williams belongs in that same category. Like Jackson, he can hurt defenses with his legs, and that raises the stakes here. If the Bears bring him back even a week early, they’re inviting a possible setback they can’t afford.
So the message has to be patience. Williams will want back on the field quickly.
That’s natural. But Johnson, Williams and the entire organization need to be disciplined about this one.
The timing at least gives Chicago some room. Because the injury happened early in the season, the Bears can afford to be cautious, and they should be. If this is a Grade 1 issue, a four-week absence before a possible return would fit the approach the team needs to take.
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Former Illini Gabe Jacas Just Earned Early Respect From Aaron Rodgers
Gabe Jacas is wasting no time making his presence felt in the NFL, and that matters to Illinois fans who watched him develop into a force before he moved on to the next level. The former Illini rookie has already been starting games early in his pro career, a sign that his transition has been smoother than most and that he is earning trust quickly in a league that rarely hands it out.
During a recent Patriots-Steelers matchup, Jacas came up with a moment that drew attention well beyond the box score when he intercepted a pass from Aaron Rodgers. After the game, Rodgers publicly praised the play as great, which is the kind of quick respect that can matter just as much as the turnover itself. For Illinois, it is another reminder that one of its former players is already carving out a real role against the biggest names in football. [Read more 🡒]