Caleb Williams highlights Chicago Bears 2024 8-player team captain list
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Chicago Bears are placing plenty of faith in Caleb Williams as a rookie. That faith was on display Monday.
The Bears named Williams one of the team's eight team captains ahead of the 2024 season.
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said the coaching staff polled both the offense and defense last week, and that led to the team selecting the first rookie captain in Eberflus' coaching career.
"They had him pretty high," Eberflus said. "That's a really good sign that he's got leadership throughout the team."
Of the eight captains, four are offensive players while four are defensive starters. One of the Bears' seven captains is a 40-year-old veteran in tight end Marcedes Lewis. Another is recently paid cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who earned All-Pro status last season.
"I didn't even believe it, honestly," Johnson said. "Definitely honored to have that ‘C’ on my chest."
Williams will play his first regular season NFL game this Sunday against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field. He'll be the first rookie quarterback since Kyle Orton in 2005 to start Week 1 for the Bears.
Williams, whose training camp struggles and successes have prepared him for his starting role, has been tasked with being the quarterback the Bears franchise has always desired but never had.
Naming him a team captain as a rookie is a sign that he's on the on the right path, but it's also an example of the leadership he's wanted to have as the team's quarterback from the first day he stepped foot in Halas Hall.
"To be a great leader, you have to learn how to follow first," Williams said on May 10. "Right now, I’m following all the vets. I’m following all the coaches. I’m listening, having both ears open and my mouth shut."
Williams has impressed other Bears this preseason, including Lewis. The 18-year veteran tight end was impressed plenty with the rookie quarterback.
"He’s just different," Lewis said this preseason. "He has it."