In his debut game as a Chicago Bears starter, Caleb Williams will face a historical test.

QBs ranked first overall are 0–15 in their first NFL starts. Is Caleb Williams able to end that run?
Caleb Williams saw the significance of the Chicago Bears’ opening game versus Tennessee increase due to the mounting anxiety surrounding it.

In Week 1 against the Titans, Caleb Williams will make his NFL debut with the Chicago Bears and will face another historic obstacle.
It has never happened to a rookie quarterback in NFL history to win on their first start. At least since the NFL Draft class of 2002, that is.

It is accurate. No quarterback selected with the #1 overall pick has won on their debut since Carson Palmer in the 2003 NFL Draft class. The closest a No. 1 overall quarterback has come is in Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season, when Kyler Murray tied the Lion.

Since 2003, every quarterback selected first overall was a fantastic prospect; yet, Caleb Williams is not like those quarterbacks at all. Williams must start his career in the kind of weapon-laden offense that none of those quarterbacks were able to join.

None of those quarterbacks had a wide receiver trio like D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze to start their career, which makes winning a bigger challenge, obviously.

Usually, when a team has the No. 1 pick, it’s because their team doesn’t have a great supporting cast, thus causing them to lose more games than anyone else in the league. Had their roster been filled with more studs, they’d probably not be selecting first. However, since the No. 1 pick Chicago used to draft Williams wasn’t their original pick, it gives Caleb Williams a bit of an advantage.

Instead of being drafted to a team with massive holes to fill, Williams joined a team that’s on the rise, outside a couple of positions.

Even when the Bears traded up to draft Justin Fields with the 11th pick, that team had more holes to fill than the team that selected Williams with the first pick.

Given the circumstances, Caleb Williams has a prime opportunity to break the streak, becoming the first quarterback drafted No. 1 to win their first NFL start. The last quarterback to do that was David Carr, the No. 1 pick in the 2002 NFL Draft.

More than 20 years have passed since a No. 1 overall quarterback won their first NFL start, but Caleb Williams looks to break that streak in Week 1 of the 2024-25 NFL season.