LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Few people have been in Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' shoes.
But Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow is uniquely qualified to dissect what the 2024 No. 1 overall pick will face during his rookie season and how he can best ascend to the superstar status he seems destined to hold.
Like Williams, Burrow has a Heisman Trophy at home. Like Williams, Burrow was drafted No. 1 overall by a woebegone franchise in desperate search of a true franchise quarterback.
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Burrow knows Williams. The two have a relationship dating back to when Burrow hosted Williams on a recruiting visit to LSU. The Bengals star remembers the ups and downs of his rookie season and knows the mindset Williams will need to weather the good and bad days of a critical development year.
"I think that's what separates people is when you can maintain a levelheaded, even-keel aura, personality, whatever you want to call it," Burrow said Thursday after joint practice with the Bears at Halas Hall. "There's going to be ups and downs. But can you come back the next day and go about your process the same way you did the week before whether you won or whether you've lost. Whether you threw four picks or you had five touchdowns. You just have to have the mindset at the end of the day that you're going to be better."
To Burrow, the length and physicality of the NFL season hit him hardest during his rookie season in 2020. Williams will have to battle that as he tries to get his promising NFL career off the ground.
"That's what you don't realize at the beginning is how long the season is," Burrow said. "You grow, and you learn as time goes with how to maintain your body and maintain your mind for those tough times. Because week 11 to 15 is a grind. You only get one bye week. My last college year, we had 12 games and two bye weeks. So the season is a grind, you learn from every rep. As long as you grow and you learn. and you have great coaches then you're all right."
Burrow and Williams have grown their relationship since the latter visited the Bengals star in Baton Rouge. La. Burrow met up with Williams in Los Angeles after the Bears drafted the USC star.
But don't think that means that Burrow is giving Williams the roadmap to NFL success.
When asked if he had given Williams any advice, Burrow smiled. Advice? Williams doesn't need his words to thrive in the cauldron he's about to enter. Burrow let it forge him. He does not doubt that Williams will as well.
"I think once you've been through the things that he's been through, that I've been through, I think you understand it," Burrow said. "He played in L.A., so he's used to that big market. That goes a long way. So if you can stay grounded like he can then he’s going to have a good career."
Something that's working in Williams' favor is the Bears' plan to develop the young signal-caller. That plan started with head coach Matt Eberflus naming Williams the starting quarterback the second the rookie entered the building.
Pouring everything into a rookie quarterback from the moment he puts on the draft cap can pay huge dividends. It did for Burrow. Not doing so also played a role in derailing the development of past Bears saviors who could have been in Justin Fields and Mitchell Trubisky. Fields and Trubisky started their rookie season down the depth chart, and their growth suffered due to a faulty plan.
"I think those reps are so valuable," Burrow said about the sit-or-start debate around rookie quarterbacks. "I think you have to start 'em right away because you learn so much in that first year when you're getting those reps and when you come in and you're named the starter immediately ... I'll never quite understand when you draft a guy that you know is going to be your starter, but then you don't name him your starter immediately, and so then he misses out on all those reps with the ones that you would have had had you just come in as the starter.
"And that's what was great about my situation. Zac told me I was the starter as soon as I got drafted and I got all those reps with the ones, in training camp, we didn't have OTAs that year. Those reps are so valuable in every rep you grow and you learn so much from. I think that's always a challenge if that doesn't happen."
CHICAGO BEARS
Bears general manager Ryan Poles has said that he was brought in to "break a cycle." A cycle of losing. A cycle of broken quarterback play.
Poles has done everything in his power to give Williams the tools to succeed in Year 1. He has surrounded the rookie quarterback with a lethal arsenal of weapons, given him an ascending defense, and brought in a respected offensive staff to oversee his development.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor went through the rookie quarterback growing pains with Burrow. But he and the Bengals put together a plan to transform Burrow from promising prospect to elite signal-caller and pulled it off.
Taylor sees all the pieces of the Bears' plan to do the same with Williams and believes they will also reach the desired destination -- one that sees their quarterback questions answered for a decade.
"I think you gotta have a good team around him," Taylor said. Thursday. "I know that the Bears do. You gotta have a coaching staff that’s able to develop him. [Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron] … I think this is one of the best coaching staffs in the league. They’ve done a really good job with who they’ve hired. They’ve got a really good defense. They have a ton of talent on offense. They have a quarterback that’s as good as you can get in the draft. It’ll be exciting to see how it all comes along. They’ll do it at their own pace. It’ll be fun to watch."
Taylor remembers an early game during Burrow's rookie season against Bears head coach Matt Eberflus when he was the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts. Eberflus gave Burrow a look the rookie hadn't seen yet in his career, and Burrow threw a game-ending interception in a 31-27 loss.
To Taylor, the key to developing a rookie quarterback is staying the course, not panicking, and understanding that every day and every snap is a building block to success if you have the right pieces in place.
"He stored that away and said if I ever get that one again I know what I’m gonna get to," Taylor said of Burrow after that interception. "There’s moments like that that are gonna happen. You store them away and you learn from them. He’s gonna have a long career so you have plenty to store away for. Shane Waldron’s a good teacher, he has great experience, he’s been around a lot of great quarterbacks. He’ll do a great job putting him in the greatest position."
Asked to reflect on anything he'd do differently when developing Burrow or if he had any notes for the Bears as they embark on a franchise-defining journey, Taylor dismissed the idea.
Life only moves forward.
"I don’t think there’s ever any regrets," Taylor said. "There’s always things that you’d evolve. I’m sure he did and I’m sure we did. They’re all part of the process, the good and the bad with it. It’s all necessary."
The Bears' process with Williams is still in its infancy. It has seen the rookie go through ups and downs in camp before authoring an impressive preseason debut. Williams is learning and growing with each rep against a vaunted defense. He is banking every look the Bears give him as they prepare for him to begin a highly anticipated rookie season.
Taylor, like everyone else, will be watching.
"Obviously, he’s very talented," Taylor said of Williams. "He has great, great people around him that are going to help him continue to develop. And just one rep at a time, man. Never overreact in training camp, especially to the guy because it’s the first time they’re doing it with their guys against an NFL defense. I’m excited to watch him grow and develop."