Bears Legend Brian Urlacher Explains How Caleb Williams Could’ve Beaten Jayden Daniels for Offensive Rookie of the Year

Brian Urlacher played his entire 13-year NFL career with the Chicago Bears from 2000 to 2012. He is arguably the greatest Bear since the Ditka era in the 1980s. And he still loves his Bears. So, when he says things about Caleb Williams and this current iteration of the team, take them with a grain of salt.

Williams was drafted No. 1 overall last year with a lot of fanfare. After an encouraging 4–2 start, the team lost 10 straight, and the coaching staff was gutted midway through his formative first year in the NFL. He also had a historically bad offensive line.

With better coaches and a better offensive line, Williams likely would have looked a little better himself. And Urlacher agrees. He says that with a better coaching staff, Williams could have won Rookie of the Year.

“I think if you maybe put him in a different situation last year, he could have been Rookie of the Year,” the former linebacker said.

“What Kingsbury did with Jayden Daniels at the [Commanders], and what Bo Nix did with Sean Payton in Denver. So maybe getting different people around him. So much turmoil going on there. That goes back to the Lovie [Smith] thing. It’s been 13 years since they got rid of Lovie, it’s been that way every year, there’s been no consistency in the coaching department,” he added.

That’s Chicago bias if we’ve ever heard it. Williams shouldn’t escape blame for his underwhelming freshman year.

Although, Urlacher is correct about the coaching carousel in the Windy City. Ben Johnson is their sixth head coach (including interims) since Smith’s ouster in 2013. But still, Urlacher’s Bears-colored glasses were clearly on for this one. Williams was the first QB taken last year but arguably the fifth-most encouraging rookie QB in his class.

Williams has got a ways to go, and beating Jayden Daniels last year seems far-fetched, no matter the situation he was hypothetically in. But as the Bears’ all-time leading tackler went on to say, Chicago has at least taken what seem to be the right steps.

They’ve put an emphasis on the offensive line, which was completely retooled. And the staff was remodeled too, bringing in head coach Ben Johnson to lead a revamped coaching room.

“And it’s not the player’s fault, that’s just the way it goes—well, maybe it is the players’ fault, because they haven’t won, so they can’t keep a coach. But I think Ben Johnson is the man. I love that hire. I think he’ll do a great job with Caleb. They got some talent. They found some guys up front to protect Caleb. And they’ve always had the receivers, so I think that’s gonna be a good thing for him.”

As you might expect, the Bears fandom was right behind their legend on this one. “Brian Urlacher knows ball, obviously,” said one on Twitter. “Brian is a true New Mexico legend, love how he always knows ball,” chimed in another.

Others added, “YOU NAILED IT LACH!” and “It has been written!”

Clearly, excitement in Chicago is surprisingly high in 2025, especially after the letdown of last year. But why shouldn’t it be?

They’re clearly under new management. The turnover within the Bears’ coaching staff was remarkable this offseason. From what we can tell, tight ends coach Jim Dray was the only one to avoid the chopping block on the offensive side of the ball.

The rest of the staff is new this year and includes Antwaan Randle El, Eric Bieniemy, and OC Declan Doyle. Former Saints head coach Dennis Allen takes over the defense, with former All-Pro DB Al Harris taking charge of the secondary among other changes on that side of the ball.

That’s a pretty impressive list of football brains for Caleb Williams and the rest of the young Bears roster to pick.