As the Bears play a stadium shell game — possibly without a ball hiding under any of them — the football team has more immediate business. And their franchise quarterback is focused on that.
“I’m going to play wherever there’s 120 by 53 and ⅓ and it’s marked up with white lines and two end zones,” Caleb Williams said Thursday, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “I’m OK with whatever. Whatever decision they make is whatever decision they make. I just want some green and my teammates and coaches and another team out there and fans.”
Wherever a new stadium is built, it won’t happen for multiple years. Presumably, Williams will still be playing for the Bears.
But the NFL changes faster than it ever has. Every year is unique, for every team. Things change. Teams change.
One basic reality for the Bears is that, if/when a new stadium is built, the Bears will lose the advantage that comes from the elements. The “Iceman” will never have to worry about ice, rain, wind, or snow when playing at home.
It’s good, then, that the Bears are becoming a team that is driven by its offense. That’s rarely been the case, as evidenced by the fact that the franchise has never had a 4,000-yard passer.
Williams, who set the franchise record with 3,942 in 2025, should get there, with or without a roof over the home stadium. If/when the Bears move indoors, those numbers could go even higher.
Still, it’s a long way off. While Williams likely will still be a Bear when they open Abe Froman Field, most of his current teammates will be long gone from the roster.
Ben Johnson’s ability to call offensive plays landed him the head coaching job with the Bears in 2025 and it helped the team win the NFC North on its way to the divisional round of the playoffs.
Johnson is raising the bar for himself in his second season in Chicago. He told reporters on Tuesday that he has changed “fairly significantly” since he first called plays for the Lions in 2022. Johnson said he believes he is “better in situations than I’ve been in the past” and that his improvement should help him face what he identified as the major offensive challenge that his team will face this season.
“We have different guys this year than we had last year and certainly anywhere else I’ve been,” Johnson said, via the team’s website. “The challenge is making sure that we’re all coordinated and on the same page and putting them all in a spot to succeed. But I love the challenge of looking at Luther Burden and how we get him the ball and maximize what he does best, along with Rome [Odunze] and Colston [Loveland] and Cole [Kmet]. We have this whole slew of weapons we’re looking to maximize. I think that’s the fun part. The plays don’t matter so much to me; it’s moreso, how do we get these guys the ball in space to do what they do so well?’”
All of the players Johnson listed will need quarterback Caleb Williams to deliver them the ball for the offense to come together as hoped. Williams thrived last season when things broke down, but Johnson said that the quarterback “just needs to worry about executing the play at hand” and that view underscores the coach’s confidence in his own ability to push the right buttons in 2026.
The Bears claim they’re focused on building a new stadium in Indiana. And yet they’re still talking to Illinois.
On Tuesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker told reporters that there have been “incoming calls” from the Bears to Pritzker and legislative leaders in recent days.
“The Bears would like to see something happen,” Pritzker said, via Brenden Moore of Capitol News Illinois, “and we all do, too. And so the question is, ‘Can they do that?’”
He said the Bears are currently trying to regroup.
Pritzker added that the Bears made some “fumbles” from the outset of the process. Among other things, he mentioned the lack of focus on one location, the absence of a clear plan in the recent legislative session, and the failure to be present on the final day of the session.
The door is open for a special legislative session, if (as Pritzker said) the House and Senate can get together on one piece of legislation. (Pritzker added that legislative leaders can also call a special session.)
And so, while the Bears have a bird in the hand in Hammond, Indiana, they’re still looking for a solution in Illinois. Which makes sense.
Nothing in Hammond is official, and the team’s stated desire to advance the ball in Indiana looks like nothing more than an effort to get the ball rolling in Illinois.
More than 90 percent of the players selected in the 2026 NFL draft have signed their rookie contracts. Among the players who remain unsigned, there are two big clusters, at the top of the third round and the top of the fourth round.
The first six players drafted in the third round are still unsigned: Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck, Broncos defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim, Raiders defensive end Keyron Crawford, Eagles tackle Markel Bell, Bears tight end Sam Roush and 49ers edge rusher Romello Height.
The first seven players drafted in the fourth round are also unsigned: Raiders cornerback Jermond McCoy, Bills tackle Jude Bowry, Jets defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr., Cardinals defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor, Chargers wide receiver Brenen Thompson, Texans guard Febechi Nwaiwu and 49ers defensive tackle Gracen Halton.
Those 13 players make up the majority of the 2026 draft picks who haven’t signed their rookie contracts yet.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said on the team’s YouTube show that high third and fourth-round picks are encouraged by the players’ union to ask for contract provisions that the players in the previous round are getting.
“A lot of years it was the third round took forever,” Beane said. “The union is constantly trying to push down everything from the second round into the third round, and then the third round to make the fourth round better. In this CBA it feels like the fourth round has become more difficult.”
Beane said he understand why Bowry’s agent doesn’t want him to sign until he sees what other fourth-round picks can get, but he thinks it will work itself out before training camp.
“Sometimes agents are a little afraid to do something if the guy in front of them hasn’t done it,” Beane said. “They don’t want to look bad. It’s all recruiting. Jude’s been great. Until it’s done it’s not done, but we’re optimistic.”
A handful of first- and second-round picks also remain unsigned. Every player picked in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds has signed.
With the Bears issuing a non-binding announcement on Friday that they will be advancing with the potential construction of a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, the Bears want their leverage play against Illinois to not be viewed as the leverage play it is.
Of course it’s a leverage play. If it wasn’t, a deal would already be done to build in Hammond.
Instead, the Bears keep talking to Illinois even as they supposedly focus on Indiana.
It makes sense for the Bears to try to persuade members of the media that Indiana isn’t a leverage play. (It doesn’t make sense for members of the media to swallow the hook, unless it’s a part of a broader quid pro quo for scoops and/or access.) For a leverage play to be effective, it has to be viewed as real. If it’s not viewed as real, the leverage won’t move the needle in Illinois.
The real question isn’t whether Indiana is leverage (because it is) but whether Indiana is a bluff. In other words, are the Bears simply using a potential Hammond move as a way to get the best possible deal in Arlington Heights? (Also, did the Bears initially pivot to Arlington Heights to get the best possible deal in Chicago?)
It’s possible that the Bears, deep down, do not want to leave Chicago, but that the organization concluded at the outset of this process that it’s impossible to build a new stadium in Chicago on terms favorable to the franchise unless the city and the state believe the team may build across the border.
With a move out of the area an impossibility (the placement of two teams in L.A. took away an ideal “or else” threat for two decades of stadium projects), a potential move within the area carries real value. As leverage, and possibly as a bluff.
That’s the thing about a bluff. Admitting it’s a bluff strips the bluff of any value.
Regardless of whether the Bears will actually move to Indiana, the possibility remains leverage for now. If it wasn’t, there would be nothing for the Bears and Illinois to discuss. The mere fact that the two sides are still talking proves conclusively that the Bears are playing Indiana against Illinois — in the same way that they’ve been playing Arlington Heights against Chicago.
