Bears chairman George McCaskey on preseason buzz, QB Caleb Williams and clean 'Hard Knocks' language

Bears chairman George McCaskey knows you’re excited about the Bears. He is too, and so is his mom.

But he wants you to be patient with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

“Typically the No. 1 pick in the draft comes into a situation where it's going to take a while for things to come together,” McCaskey told the Sun-Times on Thursday. “Caleb's got a lot of support — a solid defense, good receivers, good offensive line, a good running game, tight ends. But I hope people will be patient. There are going to be growing pains. He's going to make mistakes. That's part of the learning process for any young quarterback.”

McCaskey knows what he’s asking will be difficult, if not impossible, for a fan base whose greatest quarterback of all time retired in 1950.

“I understand the impatience — that's to be expected, to a certain extent,” he said. “(Williams) can't do it by himself. We've all seen some very talented quarterbacks who didn't have the help around them and who struggled as a result.”

The Bears have seen some up close — Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields were first-round picks, too. Neither generated the kind of excitement that Williams has during a long — and undefeated — preseason.

“He's been terrific,” McCaskey said. “Hard worker, great teammate, he's got a smile on his face.”

Add the acquisition of receiver Keenan Allen and re-upping of cornerback Jaylon Johnson and receiver DJ Moore — McCaskey joked that president/CEO Kevin Warren calls spending that kind of cash “champagne problems” — and the Bears have reason for optimism.

“I don't think (the excitement) can be quantified,” McCaskeey said. “You can feel it growing as the season approaches.”

So can Virginia McCaskey, the Bears’ matriarch. She’s yet to meet Williams in person, her son said, but knows what the Bears can become this year.

“She's excited, like everybody else,” he said. “She has high expectations, like everybody else.”

McCaskey joked that he’s seen memes calling the Bears, who outscored their four opponents by 68 points, the greatest preseason team of all time. As he does every year, McCaskey laid out what would constitute success once the season starts — to win the Super Bowl, which the Bears haven’t done in 38 years.

“The best way to do that is to win your division,” he said. “And we want to see progress.”

He’s seen the Bears make headway this offseason. Ryan Poles’ roster, he said, has flipped since the general manager took over in 2022.

“Before, we would be active on the waiver wire,” he said. “Now other teams are looking at players that we put on waivers.”

On the field, he said, coach Matt Eberflus has built a team that has grown closer together since the start of offseason activities.

“Every season has a story, every season has some amount of adversity,” he said. “I think the bonds that have been forming during that critical time will help us get through the inevitable periods of adversity.”

“Hard Knocks” has been telling the Bears’ story during training camp. The NFL foisted the Max documentary series on the Bears despite McCaskey’s long objection to it.

McCaskey praised the professionalism of the film crew — which left for good after Thursday’s practice — but pushed back against the most common plot points “Hard Knocks” has emphasized over the years: players getting cut. That’s one major reason he was never in favor of the documentary coming to Halas Hall.

“The nature of the program, the drama, if there is any, is the player personnel and the general manager and the coach building a roster and guys fighting for roster spots,” he said. “In our opinion, when you tell a young man that in all likelihood his lifetime dream is over, that's a private moment. We want to be very sensitive about it, we want to handle it tastefully and sympathetically.”

Tuesday’s final episode will cover cut day. McCaskey, as he has the whole series, said he'll be “very” active in the editing process. And yes, that includes eliminating salty language. In four episodes, there hasn’t been a solitary curse word.

“We understand that professional athletes swear from time to time,” he said. “We wanted kids to be able to watch the show without their parents worrying. And we didn't want to have a daytime PG version and a nighttime (one)."

Asked when Bears fans will see him appear on the show, McCaskey was clear.

“You’re not going to,” he said.

There are other issues on the Bears' agenda. McCaskey reiterated that the Bears are focused on building a new stadium downtown, just south of Soldier Field. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said it will be “near impossible” for the Bears to gain approval for a stadium during the General Assembly’s veto session in November. McCaskey said the Bears are aiming to get on the agenda, but admitted it will be a challenge.

“We're just trying to continue the discussions,” he said, “and trying to convince people that it will be great for the region, for the city and for the state.”

The Bears have pledged to commit $2 billion towards the project. They might have a new way to access some of that money — in a special meeting this week, NFL owners voted to allow teams to sell up to 10% of their franchise to private equity firms, which would remain passive investors.

“It doesn't really change the NFL's model, which is having one person speak on behalf of each club,” McCaskey said. “It's a way of accessing liquidity to grow the game.”

The Bears are “studying” what that kind of investment could mean, he said. Asked if such a sale would be directly related to paying for a stadium, McCaskey said the Bears “haven't gotten that far.”

The Bears have come far enough this preseason. Now their chairman is eager to see what comes next.

“We get it — there's a lot of excitement,” he said. “The offseason's always too long. We're finally getting down to it. It's a great feeling.

“We gotta deliver.”