Everything about the Bears is messed up, from ownership to management to coaching to on-field performance to talent.

The only bright spot in the darkness appears to be rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

I say “apparently” because, well – horror to ponder – what if he wasn’t so great either?

Williams was the first player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, a presumed savior who possesses excellent athletic ability, quick feet, a strong arm, leadership qualities and intriguing statistics. For example, if he averages 284 passing yards in the Bears’ final two games, he will set the franchise record for passing yards in a season.

He could do it – break Erik Kramer’s 29-year-old passing yardage record of 3,838 – and still be part of one of the worst Bears teams of all time. That means being the de facto leader of a horrible team, currently going through a nine-game losing streak. It’s something that can’t really be calculated.

Likewise, his care with the ball and ability to not throw interceptions (only five) can be correlated to his NFL-leading 60 sacks taken and lack of consistent throws downfield for big gains . Taking care of the ball, keeping it too long, can become an obsession that hinders risk-taking and success.

I always think about the Bears’ other recent quarterback failures: Mitch Trubisky (second overall in 2017) and Justin Fields (11th overall in 2021). Both left the team without having done much to elevate it. The Bears were 29-21 during Trubisky’s starts, but that relatively mediocre record looks like wild success compared to their 10-28 record during Fields’ starts.

Both had chances, then were ruled out as errors. Neither is a starter in the NFL right now. This tells us a lot. But the nagging question regarding their tenure with the Bears is: Were both okay-but-not-good talents who could have become very good, or did the Bears take two quality quarterbacks, fresh out of college, and did they ruin them?

Trying to determine Williams’ value is difficult because the Bears are miserable from so many angles that it’s possible — probably even — that they could turn even polished steel into raw iron.

It’s easy now to say that Trubisky and Fields weren’t up to par and that big evaluation errors were made in selecting them so high and believing in them. Remember, the Bears could have taken Patrick Mahomes instead of Trubisky, for example. It’s also worth remembering that even if they had drafted Mahomes, he might never have become the three-time Super Bowl champion he became under Chiefs coach Andy Reid. The Bears can waste a guy.

Williams has nice stats, but nice stats can often come when you’re way behind and the defense doesn’t care much about what you’re doing because the game is already in the bag. It’s not Williams’ fault. Throwing against prevention zones means your defense has been pretty bad.

But the Bears haven’t scored in the first quarter in four games. Could it be Williams’ fault? Remember, it’s not wrong to doubt everything on a dysfunctional team like the Bears. And statistics can lie. Or at least mislead.

Trubisky went 11-3 with the Bears in 2018. It was his second season and he had back-to-back monster games, throwing six touchdown passes against the Buccaneers and three more against the Dolphins the following week. His passer ratings were 154.6 and 122.5. A month later, he threw three TD passes in a win over the Lions and earned a 148.6 rating. But the misses started coming a lot faster after that.

Fields, also in his second year, had almost unbelievable back-to-back games in which he accounted for 325 yards and three touchdowns and passed for five more against the Dolphins and Lions. But the Bears lost every game and Fields clearly wasn’t the future.

The ghosts of Trubisky and Fields linger on the horizon like creatures from a modern-day “Christmas Christmas,” haunting anyone who thinks they can subdue the bears.

“Over this year and this time, I think I’ve become more comfortable,” Williams said when discussing the details of the match Monday.

It was nice.

But the Bears are 4-11 and going down fast. And sometimes the ship takes everyone with it, especially the man at the helm, the young captain whose future was once bright.