The 16 is an ongoing essay series on the record number of Black quarterbacks starting in the NFL during the 2025 season.
CHICAGO — Nearly an hour after he had led Chicago to a thrilling overtime victory against the hated Green Bay Packers, Caleb Williams, the Bears’ second-year quarterback, was peppered with questions about his performance.
Specifically, he was asked about his game-tying touchdown pass to undrafted rookie Jahdae Williams and the perfect 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore that sealed the victory.
Williams described the latter play, then talked about what the moment meant for the city of Chicago, for Bears fans and the franchise. After he finished describing what the moment meant for everyone else, I asked Williams if he would go so far as calling Saturday’s performance the signature moment of his young career.
Williams, the fans and the organization have been waiting for such a moment since making him the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft. Surely, leading the Bears to a win at home over a hated rival would have to be a standout moment in the young quarterback’s mind.
Williams paused and thought.
“A signature moment,” he said contemplating the question. “It was a great moment. I got a lot of great moments coming up. So, I think it’s a signature moment for us as a team to be able to build this confidence, a signature moment for us to be in the position we’re in, 11 wins, everything at the tip of our fingers exactly where we want to be. I’ll put it like that.”
As an emerging 24-year-old star quarterback in the National Football League, Williams is right to predict that there will be great moments ahead. That’s been the arc of his career, from high school in Washington D.C., to college at the University of Oklahoma, then USC, to finally being taken No. 1 in the 2024 draft.
Until Saturday, there were no sustained moments when Williams put the franchise on his shoulders. In fact, at one point in the second half, Williams was being outplayed and upstaged at home by Malik Willis, the Green Bay Packers’ fourth-year quarterback. Willis was forced into action when Jordan Love was knocked out of the game with what would later be diagnosed as a concussion.
Willis completed 9 of 11 passes, including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs that gave Green Bay a 13-3 third-quarter lead. It was a great moment for Willis, but then he fumbled a crucial fourth-down snap that killed a Packers scoring opportunity.
With 24 seconds left in regulation, Williams hit Walker in the corner of the end zone for the game-tying score. In overtime, Williams found Moore with the picture-perfect game-winner and Soldier Field exploded.
(As an aside, I grew up in Chicago, on the city’s Southside, and I was a Bears fan until I was 16. And even though I am completely agnostic when it comes to rooting interests these days, being back in Chicago on Saturday — experiencing the electric atmosphere of the windy stadium and witnessing the overtime victory with a division title on the line against a hated rival — stirred the teeniest tinge of satisfaction.)
But what brought me to Chicago was the season-ending ACL injury Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered last week.
Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
Mahomes has been the most revered quarterback of his generation since the 2020 season when he won his first Super Bowl title. He won his second in 2023, and his third in 2024. Mahomes has played in five Super Bowls and has spoken openly about being part of the Black quarterback tradition.
In the process of building a great career, Mahomes has shattered myths and stereotypes that so often have followed Black quarterbacks from one generation to the next. He helped normalize speaking about Black quarterbacks’ physical and mental acuity.
Mahomes’ absence, perhaps for all of 2026, creates a void in the historic continuum of Black quarterbacks. Who will fill that void?
The current season began on a historic note when 16 of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks were African American. In the intervening weeks, three of the starters were benched, and four were knocked out of the starting lineup with injuries.
The Bears-Packers game featured what we all thought would be a showdown between two outstanding young quarterbacks in Love and Williams. They are two in a talented pool of young Black quarterbacks, each of whom is looking for a signature moment that corresponds to where they are in their respective careers.
For Williams, the defining moments — present and future — will be designed to earn his coach’s trust. Love, 27, was named Packers quarterback in 2023 after sitting for three seasons behind the iconic Aaron Rodgers. Packers fans want to see more. Love’s signature moment may be leading Green Bay to a Super Bowl.
Mahomes’ absence creates a challenge for a group of talented young Black quarterbacks to take the torch that Mahomes has held for the past eight years. Each of them is at a different stage of their careers, and each is looking for a different signature moment.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is the obvious keeper of the flame, but Hurts may be the NFL’s most disrespected star quarterback. Hurts, 27, has led the Eagles to a pair of Super Bowl appearances, and last season he was the MVP in Super Bowl LIX, when Philadelphia defeated Kansas City.
On Saturday, the Eagles clinched the NFC East. A week earlier, however, fans were calling for Hurts to be benched after a poor performance against the San Diego Chargers. His signature moment may have to take place in another Super Bowl and then, who knows?
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, 28, is a two-time league MVP, but he has never taken the Ravens to the Super Bowl. That will be his signature moment. Houston’s CJ Stroud, 24, is looking for a signature moment that recaptures the magic of his rookie season and catapults Houston deep into the playoffs.
Carolina’s Bryce Young, 24, is simply looking for a moment that proves to an on-the-fence fan base that he is the Panthers’ future.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Cleveland’s Shedeur Sanders is looking to prove that he is a legitimate NFL quarterback and not just the creation of his father Deion Sanders’ hype machine. His signature moment, if there is to be one, will come in the Browns’ next three games.
I get the point Williams was making Saturday evening when he said that there will be plenty of great moments in his career. Hopefully, he’s right. Great moments are fleeting, though, and when they come you’d better savor them.
Saturday’s end-game performance at home against the hated Packers will go down in Bears history as a signature moment fans, teammates and coaches have been waiting to see.
The post Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams secures signature moment. Who’s next? appeared first on Andscape.
