The Bears had an opportunity to use the first overall pick in the draft last year, and passed it on to Carolina. They won't pass up that chance this year.
Chicago acquired the Panthers' 2024 first-round pick in the trade for last year's No. 1 overall pick, which Carolina used on quarterback Bryce Young. That 2024 first landed the Bears at No. 1, accompanying their own selection at No. 9 to give Chicago an enviable opportunity to double dip on top-10 picks.
When the Bears traded Justin Fields to the Steelers, that signaled to everyone Chicago would be taking a quarterback first overall. There will almost certainly be no suspense with that pick either, as the Bears are widely expected to take USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner.
The Bears have been in this spot before, picking No. 1 overall, though it has been a long time. Even going back as far as 1973, Chicago has only used a top three pick once, which was in 2017, spending the No. 2 overall selection on QB Mitchell Trubisky.
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What is the franchise's history of drafting first overall? Here's what you need to know.
Bears No. 1 overall draft pick history
You'll need to dust off the history books for the last two times the Bears have used the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Those came only twice: 1941 and 1947.
The first time came when Chicago drafted Michigan halfback Tom Harmon first overall. Harmon was the 1940 Heisman Trophy winner and a two-time All-American, who rushed for more than 850 yards both in 1939 and 1940.
But something strange happened after Harmon was picked first overall: He decided he didn't want to play. This wasn't a move like Eli Manning forcing his way off the Chargers and to the Giants. Harmon planned to pursue a career in radio and movies. Despite attempts from Chicago to get him to reconsider, he ultimately did not sign with the Bears.
Harmon appeared in several films, but spent much of the mid-1940s fighting in World War II before he returned from the military in 1945 after Japan surrendered.
Harmon did wind up playing in the NFL, coming out of retirement to play for the Rams in 1946. He rushed 47 times for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns and caught 10 passes for 199 yards. The next year, he rushed 60 times for 306 yards and scored a touchdown, while adding five catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. He decided to officially call it a career after the 1947 season, however, and did not return to football, instead shifting to sports broadcasting full time.
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The next first-overall pick for the Bears was halfback Bob Fenimore. The Oklahoma State star had an explosive 1944 season in which he accumulated a nation-leading 1,758 total yards of offense including 899 rushing. Nicknamed, "the Blonde Bomber," Fenimore also passed for 997 yards that season. The next year, he powered the team to an undefeated season with a nation-leading 1,119 rushing yards. His records for total offense lasted for over four decades at Oklahoma State.
Fenimore was limited to only five games in 1946 due to injuries, chiefly a left knee injury, but the Bears decided to draft the star back first overall in 1947 regardless. He played only that 1947 season with Chicago, carrying the ball 53 times for 189 yards and a touchdown while catching 15 passes for 219 yards and two more scores. He also completed 2 of 3 passes for 27 yards.
He retired from football after the season and worked for Mass Mutual.
The NFL has changed significantly since the two times the Bears drafted first overall. There is little to no chance any player taken first overall would leave football to pursue acting after being selected No. 1, and the intense scrutiny of medical records would likely limit the chances of a player with a previous injury going first and playing only one year in the league.
For Williams, assuming he is the No. 1 pick, all he has to do is return to Chicago after playing one season to become the longest-tenured No. 1 pick in Bears history.
Bears first-round QB history
| Year | Player | College | Pick |
| 1939 | Sid Luckman | Columbia | 2 |
| 1942 | Frankie Albert | Stanford | 10 |
| 1946 | Johnny Lujack | Notre Dame | 4 |
| 1948 | Bobby Layne | Texas | 3 |
| 1951 | Bob Williams | Notre Dame | 2 |
| 1982 | Jim McMahon | Brigham Young | 5 |
| 1987 | Jim Harbaugh | Michigan | 26 |
| 1999 | Cade McNown | UCLA | 12 |
| 2003 | Rex Grossman | Florida | 22 |
| 2017 | Mitchell Trubisky | North Carolina | 2 |
| 2021 | Justin Fields | Ohio State | 11 |
When it comes to drafting first-round quarterbacks, the Bears have considerably more experience in that department. Chicago has spent 11 first-round picks on signal-callers in the franchise's history, including two in the past seven drafts.
Sid Luckman is undoubtedly the biggest Bears' success. He spent his entire 12-year career with the Bears, during which he three times led the league in passing and passing touchdowns, five times earned All-Pro nods and three-times earned Pro Bowls. He was also a four-time NFL champion (pre-dating the Super Bowl). If his 13,850 passing yards, which are the most for any first-round Bears QB, weren't enough, the Pro Football Hall of Famer also intercepted 17 passes and recovered 15 fumbles as he also played as a defensive back for Chicago in the 1940s.
Beyond Luckman, the success rate has not really been there for the Bears. Bobby Layne went on to have a Hall of Fame career with over 26,536 passing yards. He also started one game for Chicago before he forced a trade to the Bulldogs in the offseason. Frankie Albert threw for 10,795 yards in his career, but not a single one for the Bears.
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Jim Harbaugh was a solid started for the Bears for seven years, but found most of his success when he signed with the Colts in free agency.
Jim McMahon was the quarterback of the Bears in 1985, when they won the Super Bowl, though largely on the strength of the defense. He had 11,203 passing yards with Chicago and was the starter for seven years.
The Bears have spent three picks in the 2000s on quarterbacks. Rex Grossman saw parts of six years for the Bears, but started more than three games only twice and only started in one full season. Trubisky earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2018 and appeared on track to be the best Bears' quarterback in recent memory, but regressed in 2019 and 2020 and lost his grip on the starting role to Chicago's 2021 first-round pick.
That would be Fields, who at equal points in his career has been the most exciting and most frustrating player in the NFL. Fields hit a career-high in passing yards with 2,562 in 2023 and has thrown more touchdowns than picks in both 2022 and 2023. He also rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022 and racked up 657 in 2023. However, he struggled with fumbles, reading defenses and taking sacks.
Chicago will certainly hope Williams can finally be the long-awaited answer at quarterback the franchise has sought. The Bears still have no quarterbacks to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season, one of only two NFL teams since the 16-game era started to not have it happen even once. Even with the regular season expanding to 17 games, the Bears still lack a 4,000-yard passer.
