Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams throws a pass during the NFL football team's rookie camp at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill., Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh)

Caleb Williams is the Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback. Just in case there was a shred of doubt the No. 1 overall draft pick is the team’s No. 1 QB, coach Matt Eberflus erased it on Friday.

A rendering of the proposed new stadium for the Chicago Bears on a redesigned Museum Campus. (Credit: Chicago Bears)
,

The Bears would pitch in $2 billion, plus use a $300 million loan from the NFL; billions more in taxpayer money would be used to finance the other half of the stadium as well as to make infrastructure improvements and add park and public space to the area.

Chicago Bears No. 9 draft pick wide receiver Rome Odunze, left, and No. 1 draft pick quarterback Caleb Williams, right, hold up jerseys as they pose for a photo during an NFL football news conference in Lake Forest, Ill., Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The former Southern California star was ready to embrace the attention after the Chicago Bears grabbed him with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. 

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams celebrates with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Chicago Bears with the first overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Detroit. (Jeff Roberson / AP Photo)

The expectations are clear: Become the franchise quarterback the Bears have craved for years and lift the founding NFL franchise to the top of the league. Other than that, there's no pressure at all.

James “Big Cat” Williams appears on “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” on April 24, 2024. (WTTW News)

For the Chicago Bears, this week may just turn out to be one of the most significant in the history of the franchise.

A rendering of the proposed new stadium for the Chicago Bears on a redesigned Museum Campus. (Credit: Chicago Bears)
,

Mayor Brandon Johnson enthusiastically endorsed the plans for a new stadium, calling the renderings of the futuristic oval-shaped stadium with a translucent roof “miraculous.”

(WTTW News)
,

The news that the Bears now want to remain the Chicago Bears in more than just name is the latest twist in the team’s high-profile search for their forever home that faces at least two major obstacles: the need for millions of dollars from taxpayers to subsidize the new stadium and an all-but-certain legal challenge.

O.J. Simpson stands as he listens to Municipal Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell as she reads her decision to hold him over for trial on July 8, 1994, in connection with the June 12 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. (AP Photo / Eric Draper, Pool, File)
,

Simpson earned fame, fortune and adulation through football and show business, but his legacy was forever changed by the June 1994 knife slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

Kansas City Chiefs fans gather outside Arrowhead Stadium before a NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo / Ed Zurga, File)
,

he defeat Tuesday of a three-eighths cent sales tax to fund a new downtown Royals ballpark and renovate the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium was almost assuredly not the end of the matter. Other teams and cities have faced similar setbacks, and that hasn’t slowed a wave of stadium construction underway across the U.S.

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen (13) rushes past Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46) during an NFL football game Sunday, November 12, 2023, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

The Bears went 7-10 in their third straight losing season and haven’t finished above .500 since going 12-4 to capture the NFC North championship in 2018. But they sent a strong signal that they’re ready to start winning with their second trade for a star receiver in as many years.

(WTTW News)

Several news organizations on Monday morning reported that the team has backed off possible plans to build a stadium in suburban Arlington Heights and will instead now provide private funding for a new publicly owned stadium in Chicago.

Justin Fields looks on prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on September 10, 2023. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

The 24-year-old set social media alight when he unfollowed the Bears on Instagram, fueling speculation that he could be on his way out of Illinois.

Washington Football Team assistant running backs coach Jennifer King works with the team before an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo / Mark Tenally)

Jennifer King became the first Black female in NFL history to serve as a primary position coach in 2021 with Washington.

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields walks to the locker room after being sacked during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo / Charles Rex Arbogast)

Justin Fields was hurt on Chicago’s first possession of the third quarter against Minnesota. He seemed to land awkwardly on his hand trying to throw the ball away while getting sacked by Danielle Hunter. The Bears punted on the next play, and Fields headed to the locker room.

FILE - Chicago Bears great Dick Butkus watches from the sideline during the first half of the team's NFL football game against the Houston Texans on Sept. 25, 2022, in Chicago. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, File)

Dick Butkus, fearsome Hall of Fame linebacker for the Chicago Bears, has died at age 80.

Sergio Brown is shown here helping to coach a team of local school children on July 15, 2015, in London, England. (Dan Mullan / Getty Images via CNN)

Authorities discovered the body of 73-year-old Myrtle Brown on Saturday after relatives alerted police they’d been unable to find or contact her or her son, the Maywood Police Department said in a news release.