Bears insider suggest Caleb Williams could be benched with slow start

The Athletic believes the Chicago Bears are only a couple of bad performances by Caleb Williams from a full-blown quarterback controversy.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) runs the ball as Kansas City Chiefs safety Chamarri Conner (27) chases | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Tyson Bagent was good this preseason. He got praise. He got a new contract. He could ... eventually get Caleb Williams' job?

Williams endured a rocky training camp for the Chicago Bears trying to digest new head coach Ben Johnson's complex offense. At times he looked overwhelmed. Others - like the first scintillating drive against the Buffalo Bills - he looked like a quarterback who could achieve Johnson's lofty goals of 4,000 yards and 70-percent completions.

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Because of Williams' struggles - particularly in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs - Johnson has openly suggested a scaling back of the playbook in an attempt to simply things. If Williams starts slow in the regular season, would the coach consider benching him?

As ludicrous as the idea sounds, the Bears obviously think highly enough of Bagent to award him a $10 million contract.

In a radio appearance on 670 The Score this week, The Athletic's Dan Wiederer suggested Williams is on a short leash with Bagent waiting in the wings.

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"I don't think this head coach is just going to sit around on his hands and go, 'You know, like we're just going to give Caleb forever to meet and reach the checkpoints that we've set out for him'," Wiederer said. "And so because you now have a QB2 that everyone in the building believes in and continues to show significant progress from where he was two plus years ago when he walked in this building to now–that conversation isn't one that Chicago should be scared of.

"You should feel great about the things that Tyson Bagent has done to put himself in position to be a guy that can either fill in in case of emergency or be an answer for you if you need. A temporary switch of lanes here as you go."

Bottom line: There's not a quarterback controversy in Chicago. Yet.

Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent (17) runs the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

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