Bedard: Caleb Williams vs. Drake Maye an early measuring stick for Bears and Patriots

There's little doubt that both Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, along with Jayden Daniels, deserved to be picked at the top of the most recent draft.

Sure, the draft history overall will tell you that at least one of them will fail in their current situation, but this could be one of those years where the players were just that good. For example, 2020 produced Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love.

We've seen enough of Williams and Maye to get a decent opinion on their prospects, and they'll get to go head-to-head today to further the discussion.

Which quarterback would I rather have? It's an interesting discussion that I would answer a few different ways after watching film on both this season.

Just as a frame of reference, I had Williams, Daniels and Maye ranked in the order they were drafted.

If I had to win a game today — taking their present situations out of the questions and putting them with the same coaches and surrounding talent — I would pick Williams because he has more experience and a more well-rounded playmaking ability. Williams is Patrick Mahomes Light, with way more hero ball in his game.

You probably won't be super impressed by Williams today and wondering what I was smoking. But that's him in his current situation, which is a mess and teetering on mutinous. 

Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, already fired by the Seahawks, is basically a younger Alex Van Pelt with a very basic and boring scheme. He's the first guy to be allergic of the Sean McVay magic touch.

The Bears have great talent in DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen, Cole Kmet and DeAndre Swift, but they are also a mess. Just from the film of their loss to the Cardinals last week, I saw two things I had never seen before:

A receiver in Moore walking off the field and sitting on the bench in the middle of a play:

And Williams taking a shotgun snap, pointing a blitzing safety, and the RB in Swift going out in a pass pattern instead of blocking.

The offensive line is big, unathletic and blows more blocks than the Patriots. 

And then you have Williams not often playing in structure and relying on hero ball, and you have issues. Of course, if the Patriots' defense serves it up today ... Williams and Co. might look like a functioning unit and get right.

Which quarterback, after what we've seen, would I want to build my franchise around?

Maye because of his size, demeanor and ability to lead all kinds of players. I still question how authentic Williams is, and that's a tough deal in a locker room. I have no questions about Maye. The way he conducts himself on and off the field is perfect. And he's Josh Allen Lite when it comes to skills. 

Which quarterback do I think will have the most success in the first five years of their career?

I'd have to go with Williams due to this belief: I think the Bears are the closest to making coaching changes that will set the program right. 

I think the Bears will clean house this offseason. I'd say the odds of that happening in New England are at 15 percent right now, but there's eight games left.

What would be better for a QBs' development: the Bears hiring Lions OC Ben Johnson for Year 2 of Williams, or the Patriots sticking with Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt (or whatever OC they could lure here ... I don't think the list will be impressive) for Year 2 before moving on before Year 3?

I think Williams would be in a much better position. To me, you can say all you want about surrounding a quarterback with talent but that's secondary to me. The coaching situation and stability are the most important thing for a young quarterback. The quicker a team can get there with a young quarterback the better, or else you'll be looking at a few more Baker Mayfields and Sam Darnolds.

I have more confidence the Bears will get to a better situation faster than the Patriots — and they already have a lot of talent on offense. Just need the right head coach and OC.

The Patriots might not have the right head coach, OC and talent is being rebuilt. That could be a long process perpetuated by a possible regime change in the offing.

NICKEL PACKAGE

1. We'll see if Mike Onwenu really makes the move to left guard today, but I think that would be another mistake. Just leave him where he's at. If you want to get a look at Layden Robinson, they should have been training him for weeks to play left guard. Guard play is not rocket science. It shouldn't be that hard to switch sides, or to find a guy. Plus, if Cole Strange is coming back, why not work him in with the rookie? Ben Brown is doing fine at center.

2. Bill Belichick put Keion White and Christian Gonzalez on his all young-player team. Both worthy. Combine that with all his current and former players on his special teams midseason all-pro team and you see the problem Belichick ran into later into his career: very little ability to draft and develop offensive skill talent.

3. The Patriots claimed DE Yannick Ngakoue off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens and released LB Raekwon McMillan. Ngakoue, 29, has played in 128 NFL games with 115 starts and has 229 total tackles, 70½ sacks, 2 interceptions with one returned for a touchdown, 13 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles. He used to be a borderline great player, but he never developed into a three-down player. He'll basically give them what Joshua Uche did, while picking up a draft pick for Uche.

4. Mayo said this week that he expects himself to make a big Year 2 jump just like a player. I want to write a joke here but I'll just leave his comment alone.

"It's a combination of things," Mayo said. "Look, you can start with X's and O's. You can then go to situational football. You can also go to structure and culture. Do I think I've done things right? Absolutely. Are there ways to improve? 1,000%. Do I wish I would have done certain things differently? Yeah. But those are things that when you get a chance, you get time to reflect. I'm going to go somewhere where no one can find me, just by myself, no kids, no nothing and just reflect on the season. I think it's important not only for football players, for anyone to take those times to reflect and see what you can do better."

5. Bedard's Pick

Season: 3-4-2 spread, 5-4 straight up.

Bears -6.5, 38.5 O/U

I'm officially at the point where I have no clue what we're going to get out the Patriots. They keep lowering the bar, while Maye is playing pretty well overall. You throw in that the Bears could literally quit on their coach today and I really have no clue. I think this is going to be more like the Jaguars game than the Jets game - and bad lines are worse on the road.

Bears 27, Patriots 20