CHICAGO — The conversation begins with a question. When, pray tell, will Caleb Williams officially arrive as an NFL star?

We need specifics here. A date and a time. It’s the question Chicago needs answered, the storyline so much of the NFL world is eager to zoom in on.

So, Caleb, out with it already.

Sitting downstairs inside the PNC Center at Halas Hall, Williams understands this demand for an answer has come in jest. He smiles. He chuckles. He responds with a combination of optimism and perspective.

“Hopefully,” Williams said, “my superstar breakthrough comes through in Game 1.”

OK. Now we’re cooking. That’s on the record now. Sounds like a promise.

But wait …

“Obviously,” Williams continues, “it doesn’t always happen like that. So I’m just going to keep working. There is going to be good and bad within this this year and maybe even next year. So it’s just making sure I’m steadfast and I’m staying at a neutral pace. And when everything fully slows down and is in slow motion and I can see everything in our offense like the back of my hand, I think that’s when that (breakthrough) time will come.”

Fair enough.

As the 2024 regular season nears, the Chicago Bears are in the early stages of another quarterback reboot. Three years after Justin Fields was drafted to be the franchise savior, seven years after Mitch Trubisky was pegged as the potential answer, 15 years after the landmark trade for Jay Cutler, Williams has arrived at Halas Hall amid similar pomp and circumstance but surrounded by grander expectations as the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft.

Some of those expectations have been created by his spoken ambitions to “become immortal,” to begin collecting Super Bowl trophies at Halas Hall as soon as possible. Some of the expectation centers around Williams’ elite skill set and the mental fortitude he brings to football’s most important position.

Yet no matter how anyone in the outside world forecasts Williams’ future or potential, the rookie simply remains driven to get the most out of himself on a weekly basis. That’s what matters most to him, and he’s fully invested in the work requited to get there.

In a lengthy sit-down with the Chicago Tribune last week, Williams pulled back the curtain on his mindset, development and sources of inspiration. He also described his enthusiasm for his first season as the Bears starting quarterback. Here is the meat of that conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.

That first question about your breakthrough obviously was asked with tongue in cheek. And I ask that because, as most of the outside world wants to take a time machine to your NFL breakthrough, it seems like you’re not only comfortable climbing the stairs to get there but that you also seem to have fun with the process of that climb. Can you describe your mentality in that regard?

Yeah, I’ve been in positions, obviously, where I had to come in as a freshman in both high school and in college and play. And play well. There were processes to that throughout the offseason and even during the season. It’s adjusting to the schedule, adjusting to the games, adjusting to the game speed. It’s adjusting to all these different things and trying to do my best throughout the offseason. Then? When it hits and the season arrives, obviously, it’s for real. It’s time to go. So it’s about understanding where I’m at and then having the people around me to help me keep growing.

Now that you have been through a spring, summer and most of training camp, how would you describe the complexity of playing quarterback on this level?

Yeah, it’s tough. And like Tom Brady said at his retirement. … And obviously he’s won seven Super Bowls and done all these other things. But he comes back after his retirement and said this job is hard. That’s one of the things I realized, since I’ve met him before. The job is hard. And it’s always going to be that way.

Every team is going to be different each week. And even if you play the same team (twice), obviously they’re going to change things up. We’ll play the Lions and the Minnesota and all these other teams (in the NFC North). And if they keep the same coaches, they’re going to have a lot of similarities each year. But they’re obviously going to also try to throw a bunch of new things at you too. They’re going to obviously try to create turnovers and win the game. So it’s about preparing the right way, getting ready and then when those moments happen, if there is stuff that you may have not seen in the game and didn’t react to (properly) it’s, how do you come back from that?

If I didn’t see it and I did react well or if I did see it and got us in the right plays or right checks, all those things work out. So the job is hard, just to be honest. You get here around 6 something (in the morning), a couple hours before meetings. And then you go home at night and you do a little bit more studying of the playbook — the plays, the motions, the protections and things like that. The job is hard. And it’s going to continue to be hard.

You brought up Brady, so we’ll stay there. Because I know you’ve spoken with him in depth about “competitive stamina.” What does that concept mean in your mind?

It’s being able to do the same thing over and over and over and do it at a high level and still have that juice and that fire about yourself. Whether it’s in practice or in a game, it’s having that juice and that fire lit up under you. Maybe it’s because of things in your past, maybe it’s just because you’re here and you love ball, maybe it’s all of the above. But it’s just being able to have that fire up under you through all of OTAs, through training camp, through all 17 games. Maybe 20.

It’s just being able to have that competitive fire and keep, I guess, adding wood to that fire throughout the year.

When was the first time you reached out to Brady and connected with him?

Right after my season last year I reached out through people I knew that possibly would have his number. I tried my best to get his number, got his number, and then we texted and talked every once in a while. I was just picking his brain.

During the pre-draft process, one of the consistent themes about you was that you’re a student of excellence, that you like to look around and identify people who are great and learn about their methods. Who are some of the people, whether it’s in football, the sports world, even outside of that, you’ve gravitated toward to figure out how they’ve succeeded?

The biggest people have been Tom Brady. Aaron Rodgers also. He’s in his 20th year now, and I mean he can still spin the ball unbelievably and move and do all these other things.

Matthew Stafford has been in league for so long now. And whether it was in Detroit or now with the Rams, nothing changed for him. If anything, he got better.

And then as far as other sports I looked into, it’s Michael Jordan, obviously. But Kobe (Bryant) was more my guy. Just for mental (sharpness). Just that everyday-assassin kind of thing. That’s kind of how I want to be. And so I guess you could say I connected more with him than Jordan. Also, Jordan’s a little bit older. So I didn’t get to watch his games and things like that in his prime time and hear all the stories.

So I’d say Kobe and Tom Brady are probably the top two that I try and dive into.

Since you mentioned both Kobe and Jordan, do I understand it that you had a meeting this year with Tim Grover, who trained them both and knows a lot about their mindsets?

I met with Tim over dinner here (in the Chicago area) just trying to figure out “What the hell did MJ do? How did he win? How did he become so dominant?”

And obviously things are going to be different for me. Because this is a different sport. The training is different and all these other things. But there’s always a certain thing that you can always connect to your own sport. Whether it’s F1. Whether it’s basketball. Whether it’s for other football players. There’s always something that you can connect to your sport and use.

So what’d you learn from Tim about Jordan?

Obviously with MJ, it’s his mental (strength) of not turning off. Basically it goes back to that competitive stamina thing. It’s about not turning off. And then, you know, there’s a point where Tim said that MJ didn’t like certain things (within himself). It’s also kind of what Kobe did after his first year. There were certain things he didn’t like with what he was doing. He wasn’t strong enough, he wasn’t fast enough, he didn’t know the game well enough. And so it honestly came down to putting in the work.

It came down to having that competitive energy about himself to feel like he wasn’t good enough at the time and he was going to get better. And he wanted to get better. He wanted to be the best. So he worked at it, kept going, and obviously he ended up getting six rings out of it. He did all right.

One of the concepts I’ve heard you talk about is “KYP: Know your personnel.” And for you, it’s not just about knowing the skill sets of the guys you play with but knowing how they’re wired and how to push their buttons. How do you describe learning both of those things?

I’ve got good guys here. There are tremendous wide receivers, running backs, etc. They’ve helped me grow and get into position to get things right over time. So now that I’m growing and getting comfortable, knowing my guys has become really important.

It’s getting around them, hanging around them. That helps me. Whether it’s, “How do you like this (ball) thrown? How do you like that thrown?” I’ve asked them questions about their life, questions about how they’ve grown up, questions about their family. It’s things like that. Just getting to know them on that level, I think, helps tremendously.

Then there may be times where I’m not trying to necessarily push their buttons to be mad at me. But, like, I may send Rome (Odunze) a text message of things people have said about him. And he’ll remember. He’ll doc it down and remember that. I’ll talk a little trash to Keenan to get him going. It’s just small things like that. Getting to know your guys helps and leads in a tremendous way.

We’ve talked previously about the power of connection for you. When did you realize you had the qualities to be able to do that at a level like you do?

I think my dad (Carl) would just kind of reinforce that. That I had that quality of being able to connect people. I think he’s done a great job overall with that, so I think I’ve kind of learned it from him, I guess.

Then when I realized it, I think I was in high school. It’s weird, because one of our themes in high school was togetherness. It was about bringing people together and building a bond and building that trust. So I think it started with my dad but then I got to high school with my coach and it was us preaching togetherness. Because you can’t go win games and championships without being together. And yeah, the snowball effect always gets going once you’re together. Defense, offense, special teams. Nobody’s bigger than anybody else.

When you talk about your vision and trying to win multiple Super Bowls and become immortal, that long-term vision is grand. But there is a fearlessness required with that. There’s a preparation element that goes along with that. How did you learn to set these grand goals but also understand there’s so much more that comes with chasing them?

Well I set those goals because it also helps me to be able to keep going. It also helps me to be able to have something to strive for that I feel that I can’t reach right now. I don’t think that I can reach the goals I’ve set for myself. I know I can’t right now, because it’s actually impossible to accomplish some of the goals that I have set. But it’s a way to help me mentally keep going. It’s a way to keep that competitive fire and stamina that I talked about earlier. And then also it’s just have an understanding of the position that I’m in now. I’m not there. I’m not good enough to be there yet. But it’s also a “I’ll be there, I’ll get there” kind of mindset.

How much is fearlessness as a part of that?

You have to be, in a way, fearless. I would think that to have those goals and set those goals, you have to be confident in yourself. But you have to be fearless to be able to go get them. You have to push yourself. You have to be able to push yourself mentally, physically. Those days where you throw up, those days where your legs and your back and your body hurts and aches, just to be able to get up and go again and be fearless is super important.

The word grace is one you’ve used a few times over the past few months. You talked about your teammates and coaches giving you grace and encouragement through the spring. You have had to find it within yourself as well. What does grace mean to you, both within yourself and from the people around you, as you’re embarking on a really challenging part of this journey early in your rookie year?

It’s been huge for me. I try and remind myself of that. Because I want to be perfect. I want to go out there and make the right calls. I want to go out there and throw up a one-and-a-half ball down the seam and just absolutely lace it and and throw a touchdown and make the right read. I get pretty frustrated with myself when I don’t.

And then I have people around me that help me to be graceful with myself. Whether it’s coaches telling me or it’s my teammates, like, “We’ve got you” or “We believe in you” or all these other things, it’s important to remember the position I’m in.

Are you a person who maybe suffocates yourself with self-critical thoughts in that way?

No. I’m not overanalytic. Like, I’ll come back out the next day and act like that bad day from the day before never happened. But right in the moment I want to be perfect. I want to be perfect, not for myself necessarily, but perfect for the other 10 guys on the field and the other 52 guys on the roster. That’s really important for me.

So to be able to be perfect, I have to keep going, keep getting the reps, keep accumulating those reps, mentally and physically and seeing different things so I can go out and make the right judgment and make the right read.

I understand that there are going to be mess-ups. But I also understand that I’m going to keep trying to be who I am.

Given everything that you’ve gone through and now that we can see the starting gate of the regular season, what excites you most about where you’ve gotten yourself to and where this team is now that it’s go time?

First, we see how good we are. Defense, special teams. Like when we needed a punt (in the Bengals) game, you saw our guy (Tory Taylor) booming it to the 11-yard line stopping it right there and then the guys fielding it down there. Defense, obviously, we’ve been getting a bunch of turnovers each game. Offensively, we’re just about right there. We’re still working out some of the kinks of knowing our favorite things to run. When and where and how. Between Shane (Waldron) and I, we’re just working out some small stuff. And then the explosive plays? They’re right there. They’re brewing. They’re super close. And some of them are happening. And the more routine plays? We’re just accumulating reps and getting better at those.

Eight months ago, we didn’t know what Caleb Williams thought of Chicago. Caleb Williams didn’t know what he thought of Chicago. Now that you’ve been here, you’ve seen the reaction to your arrival, what is your takeaway of what you’ve walked into?

It’s unbelievable. Unbelievable fan base, unbelievable city. Recently, the weather has been great. Soaking in the weather right now. But no, I mean, everybody’s been great here in this facility. From the top, from the president (Kevin Warren) and the owners all the way down to the players. Everybody is excited outside the building. Everybody is excited inside the building. And I think everybody’s ready to go.

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