Caleb Williams Momentum Driving the Bears Offseason Train

Analysis: Top-30 visit comes next week to Halas Hall but all of the indicators have said from Day 1 they'll take USC's QB with a month left until the draft.

Most people probably wouldn't call April 15 one of their favorite days of the year.

It's usually a pretty taxing day.

"I'm just excited about April 15," Bears coach Matt Eberflus told assembled media at the NFL owners meetings. "So to me this is a great time of the year."

The reason is Bears players return to Halas Hall then, or come for the first time to work at Halas Hall if they signed in free agency or arrived via trade. It could be about 16 different players and then there are the players yet to come the weekend of April 25-27. Included in that group is the most important one, quarterback Caleb Williams.

The Bears are continuing to play it straight down the middle with Williams even though it's obvious they'll draft him. They've rapidly eliminated any reasons to not like Williams.

GM Ryan Poles named a new reason to like Williams when he made the interview circuit on Tuesday, this during an appearance on ESPN's Pat McAfee Show.

"What makes it interesting is he is probably the biggest NIL football player to come through the process ever," Poles told McAfee. "And so you have to write that down because usually that's not the case and you want to know does he have humility."

The NIL money has been estimated at $10 million for Williams and it's not unreasonable to expect a college QB who made that much money on endorsements would arrive in the NFL with an inflated head.

"Can he self assess and say I'll take ownership of what he needs to continue to work on and improve," Poles said about the concern. "And he's checked all of those boxes so far.

"So I've been encouraged with the time that we've spent with him, and things that we've learned in terms of does he fit our culture and can he be a guy that helps take the Chicago Bears to the next level."

There have been doubts expressed he should even want to be the one to try. Last week it was RGIII with a rant about how the Bears don't know what to do with a quarterback and are not a good organization.

Poles heard all about this.

"It pisses me off a little bit to be honest with you," Poles said of RGIII's comments. "Because we were hired to break a cycle. The same thing when I was in Kansas City. Coach Reid, all of us, were brought there to break a cycle. And we did. And no one talks about those days right now. It's all about what they are right now.

"And so I really believe we're about to break this cycle and get this city in a really good situation and win a lot of games. So the past is the past I don't worry about that at all. It's about where we're going."

The draft will help them get there, and it's not just Williams.

"Obviously having that No. 9 pick is a really good spot to be in," Eberflus said of his team's second pick. "It's right there at the top. We're going to get a blue (chip) player there for sure. What we've done inn free agency allows us to be flexible there, to really take the best player that we feel fits for us in that spot."

They'll set up the draft board through a group effort.

"That's an exciting time because we're going to look at, hey, who's the best tackle, who's the best receiver, who's the best rusher, who's the best of this and that."

Eberflus has quarterback on his mind even while assessing those players.

"It's all to me always about either affecting the (opposing) quarterback or helping the quarterback," Eberflus said. "So it comes down to those two questions."

And it would appear no one will need to ask who the best quarterback actually is. Poles will be at Wednesday's LSU pro day workout, but that could be just as much to see wide receivers Malik Nabers or Brian Thomas Jr. as QB Jayden Daniels. Then Poles won't even be going to the Drake Maye pro day on Thursday.

Eberflus visited with Williams during last week's trip to USC, including a dinner the night before the USC workout.

"Great to see him interract," Eberflus said. "Great personality, great character. You could see that easily during the dinner.

"Then the next day we spent some time doing the football knowledge and all those things but I started out about an hour and 20 minutes just him and I in the room togther and just really hearing his journey, you know, his journey from being a little guy."

The next visit is next week at Halas Hall when the top-30 visit finally occurs, the one pushed off after the combine. It will afford the Bears the opportunity to check out the results of Williams' physical.

Also, they'll try and test Williams' memory about the Bears offense that they planted in his brain during last week's visit.

"We'll just coontinue on some of the (offensive) install that we've installed there in the pro day," Eberflus said. "We'll just keep continuing on that journey, teaching him more of the offense and then having him give it back to us, and see where he is that way. He's been great that way.

"Again, spending some more time visiting with him and, you know, he'll get a chance to spend some more time with the offensive staff that wasn't there on pro day."

It can all lead toward making April 25 a day Eberflus enjoys at least as much as April 15, and they'll all enjoy this a great deal more than rants by former NFL passers on podcasts.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven