Caleb Williams' development made Bears' season a huge success

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Reality sank in for Caleb Williams as he drove away from Soldier Field on Sunday night, not long after the Chicago Bears' season came to an end. Williams was able to ponder a surprisingly successful season that ended with a 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs.

The second-year quarterback realized that when he woke up Monday morning, his routine would be different. Instead of arriving at the team facility to make corrections from Sunday's game while envisioning ways to pull off another miracle comeback, Williams would have his exit meeting with coach Ben Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles, pack his belongings and say his goodbyes to teammates.

The jarring way the Bears' season ended with an interception in overtime will sting for a while, but where Chicago's road ended -- given how the season started with two straight losses -- sent Williams into the offseason hungrier for more.

"You see what championship level is, you see what you need to do to be at the position that you want to be at at the end of the year," Williams said. "You see what you have to do, you figure it out and when you get knocked down, you get back up.

"That's what we're going to do. That's my mindset."

The Bears exited the 2025 season having found the answer to a question that has haunted them for generations: When will they develop a franchise quarterback? The team's brass believed that pairing Johnson with Williams would be a football marriage that would yield sustained, long-term success for the QB and the team in general.

In their first season together, the Bears won 11 games, captured the NFC North title and earned their first playoff win in 15 years. Williams set the franchise's single-season passing record (3,942 yards) and finished as a top-10 quarterback in passing yards and touchdowns (27) while orchestrating seven game-winning drives and fourth-quarter comebacks, including in the wild-card round against the archrival Green Bay Packers.

For so many years, the Bears won games in spite of their offense. In Williams' second NFL season, the former No. 1 pick was the reason for many victories.

"He's gotten so much better over the course of the season," Johnson said. "He's going to continue to ascend. His comfort level in what we were doing has gotten better each and every week. There's plays every week that go from us talking about over the course of the week that he just brings it to life on game day.

"I think we're going to be able to watch this tape from this first year together, and I expect us to really learn from a lot of things and be better next year."

The Bears sent Sunday's game into overtime because of another mind-boggling Williams completion with the game on the line. With 18 seconds remaining in regulation, Williams found himself scrambling straight back until he spun around -- 26.5 yards behind the line of scrimmage -- and fired a rainbow pass to Cole Kmet in the end zone.

It was Williams' third TD this postseason in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter (two vs. the Packers, one vs. the Rams), the most in a single postseason in NFL history.

"There were games where he single-handedly won us the game," right tackle Darnell Wright said. "He's the best quarterback I've ever played with, for sure. I'm happy he's going to be my quarterback next year."

Williams will enter the third year on his rookie contract in 2026. He's a part of a young core with players such as tight end Colston Loveland, wide receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III, running back Kyle Monangai and a remade offensive line that helped the quarterback take 44 fewer sacks than he did as a rookie (24 this season, down from 68).

The Bears believe building around Williams by improving weak spots across the roster, notably the pass rush, will help them get back to this stage and beyond next season. Having a quarterback who's a draw for potential free agents is something Chicago has rarely been able to boast.

"That's one of the hardest things to get right, to have a franchise quarterback," safety Kevin Byard III said. "Caleb is going to do nothing but get better. I think the lessons that he's learned, he's going to take that into the offseason. It's going to drive him to be the best he can possibly be. He's already a top quarterback in this league in my opinion.

"And I think that's going to attract people to come here in my opinion because of how good he is as a quarterback, so that's why I feel like it's sustainable."