Bears Should Consider Reunion With Former QB as Caleb Williams’ Safety Net

Getty Quarterback Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears is sacked by Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took a beating against the Houston Texans in Week 2, raising legitimate concerns about the amount of punishment the rookie has already endured in his first NFL season.

The Texans walloped Williams to the tune of 11 hits and 7 sacks on Sunday night, September 15, and that doesn’t include the shots he took as a rusher of the football. The Tennessee Titans added 4 more hits and 2 sacks in Week 1.

“I think Caleb is gonna be good. The Bears gotta do something so he’s not getting the [expletive] knocked out of him like this regularly. You’re gonna break him,” Justis Mosqueda of SB Nation’s Acme Packing Co. posted to X on Sunday night. “He took a [expletive] beating.”

While the offensive line is a legitimate concern with minimal options to improve in the immediate, Williams’ decision making must also improve toward protecting himself more efficiently.

Unfortunately for the Bears, both of those issues are probably going to take some time to fix. As such, the team should consider its QB depth chart, which includes 2023 undrafted free agent Tyson Bagent as the backup and 2024 undrafted free agent Austin Reed on the practice squad.

Chicago should probably already be looking into a veteran option to bring into the fold if — and hopefully not when — Williams takes one too many licks and ends up sidelined for a game or two or more.

A handful of qualifying players remain on the free agent market, though former Bears backup Trevor Siemian probably makes the most sense out of a limited group of options.

Trevor Siemian Has Been Starter in Most of His NFL Games

GettyQuarterback Trevor Siemian, formerly of the New York Jets.

Siemian is a six-year NFL veteran who will make it seven if he finds a home at some point during the season. He played in two games, starting one of those, for Chicago in 2022 and went 0-1.

Across his time in the league, Siemian has appeared in 39 games and started 33 of them (15-18). He began his career with the Denver Broncos in 2016 where he had the two best campaigns of his professional tenure.

Siemian put up 3,401 yards, 18 TDs and 10 INTs as a rookie and has amassed 7,751 yards, 44 TDs and 32 INTs over the course of his career, per Pro Football Reference. He completed 15-of-26 passes for 184 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT with the Bears two seasons ago.

Tyson Bagent, Austin Reed Provide Inexperienced Depth Behind Caleb Williams

GettyQuarterback Tyson Bagent of the Chicago Bears.

Bagent proved himself a viable backup in four starts as a rookie (2-2), though Reed has yet to take a regular-season snap in his career.

Should Williams miss any time for any reason, the Bears will find themselves in one of the more precarious QB situations in the league — one play away from handing the keys to a revamped and expensive offense over to Reed.

Most teams don’t carry four quarterbacks between the active roster and practice squad, though one certainly could. The Cleveland Browns, for instance, have three QBs on the 53-man roster. And while they aren’t carrying a fourth on the practice squad, doing so wouldn’t be disastrous to their positional depth across the board.

Bringing in a veteran like Siemian is something that Chicago should at least consider after the way Williams got hit on Sunday night, either as a fourth QB on the roster or as competition with Reed for the practice squad spot.