Can Superman Beat the Bears’ Kryptonite?

Caleb Williams and the 9-3 Bears Head to Green Bay With a Chance to Make a Statement

For decades, Lambeau Field has been kryptonite for the Chicago Bears. The frozen tundra. The hallowed ground. The house that Curly built—and where Chicago dreams go to die.

But on Sunday, December 8th, everything feels different.

The Bears roll into Green Bay at 9-3, sitting atop the NFC North, winners of nine of their last ten games, with a legitimate shot at not just winning the division but earning a first-round bye. Meanwhile, the Packers are chasing at 8-3-1, still dangerous but no longer dominant, still proud but no longer invincible.

And leading Chicago’s charge is their second-year Superman—Caleb Williams, who has transformed from beleaguered rookie into franchise savior in less than a calendar year.

The question isn’t whether the Bears belong anymore. It’s whether Williams can finally slay his kryptonite when the stakes have never been higher.

The Transformation

Remember last season? Williams does. He’d rather forget.

The number one overall pick endured a brutal baptism into the NFL—sacked 68 times, watched his team stumble to 5-12, and learned hard lessons about just how fast and unforgiving the professional game can be. The Packers beat him twice, naturally, including that soul-crushing blocked field goal in November that seemed to perfectly capture Chicago’s futility against Green Bay.

Then came the offseason that changed everything.

The Bears fired Matt Eberflus and went all-in on Williams’s development, hiring Ben Johnson away from Detroit specifically to unlock the young quarterback’s potential. They rebuilt the offensive line, adding center Drew Dalman and trading for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson. They gave Williams weapons—keeping DJ Moore, developing Rome Odunze, and watching tight end Colston Loveland emerge as a dangerous red zone threat.

Most importantly, they gave Williams confidence.

The results speak for themselves. Through 12 games, Williams has thrown for 2,568 yards and 16 touchdowns, with just 5 interceptions. He’s gone from the NFL’s most-sacked quarterback to one of the most protected. His passer rating has jumped from 87.8 to 88.17, and while those numbers might not scream “elite,” they tell the story of a quarterback figuring it out in real time.

More impressively, Williams has become clutch. He leads the NFL with five fourth-quarter comebacks this season, tying the Bears’ single-season franchise record and matching legends like Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck for most comeback wins in a quarterback’s first two seasons. When the game is on the line, Williams delivers.

That wasn’t true a year ago. It is now.

The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher

This isn’t just another Bears-Packers game. This is a legitimate division showdown with playoff seeding implications.

Chicago enters the weekend at 9-3, fresh off a dominant 24-15 Black Friday beatdown of the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. They ran for 281 yards, controlled the line of scrimmage, and reminded everyone that this isn’t your father’s Bears team—or even last year’s version.

The Packers, meanwhile, sit at 8-3-1 after their Thanksgiving win over Detroit kept them in striking distance. They’ve been solid but not spectacular, dealing with injuries and inconsistency while trying to maintain their usual stranglehold on the division.

Except this year, the division doesn’t belong to them anymore.

The winner of Sunday’s game takes control of the NFC North race with just four weeks remaining. Lose, and the path to the division title becomes dramatically more complicated. Win, and you control your own destiny.

For Williams, the personal stakes are equally profound. He’s 1-2 against the Packers in his brief career, with that lone victory coming in last year’s meaningless season finale. He’s never beaten Green Bay when it mattered, never silenced the Lambeau crowd when the game actually meant something.

Sunday is his chance to change that narrative forever.

The Kryptonite Factor

Let’s be honest about the Bears-Packers rivalry: it’s been one-sided for far too long.

Green Bay has dominated this matchup for decades, turning games at Lambeau into coronations rather than competitions. The Packers went 11 straight games without losing to Chicago before Williams finally broke through in that Week 18 game last January.

But that victory felt hollow at the time—a meaningless win in a lost season, a moral victory in a year full of moral defeats. Williams wasn’t even particularly impressive that day, completing 21 of 29 passes for just 148 yards. Cairo Santos’s 51-yard field goal as time expired was the hero, not the quarterback.

Sunday offers something different: validation.

Williams needs to prove he can beat the Packers when they’re good, when the game matters, when the entire division is watching. He needs to show that last year’s win wasn’t a fluke, that this year’s success isn’t smoke and mirrors, that he is—finally, definitively—the franchise quarterback Chicago has been searching for since Sid Luckman.

The matchup presents challenges. Green Bay’s defense has been stout, allowing just one quarterback this season to throw for multiple touchdowns against them. Their pass rush remains formidable. Lambeau in December is as hostile an environment as exists in football.

But Williams has answers he didn’t have a year ago. An offensive line that actually protects him. A running game featuring Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift that combined for 281 yards against Philadelphia. A defense that ranks among the league’s best and can keep games close even when the offense struggles.

Most importantly, Williams has belief in himself, in his teammates, in the system Johnson has built around him.

What Victory Would Mean

If Williams and the Bears win on Sunday, it would represent more than just another W in the standings.

It would signal the arrival of a new era in the NFC North. Not just the Bears as contenders, but Williams as a legitimate franchise quarterback capable of winning the division’s biggest games. It would prove that last year’s struggles were growing pains, not a preview of mediocrity to come.

It would also inch Williams closer to franchise history. He’s currently on pace for 3,856 passing yards this season, which would shatter Erik Kramer’s 30-year-old Bears record of 3,838 yards. He needs 1,432 more yards over six games to reach 4,000—a number no Bears quarterback has ever achieved—and while that pace might be slightly out of reach, even coming close would validate everything the organization has invested in him.

But records don’t win divisions. Beating the Packers does.

A victory Sunday would give Chicago a two-game lead over Green Bay with four to play—not insurmountable, but daunting. It would position the Bears for a potential first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. It would transform Williams from a promising young quarterback to a bona fide star.

Most importantly, it would prove that Superman can overcome his kryptonite.

The Road Ahead

Win or lose Sunday, Williams still has work to do. His completion percentage (58.1%) ranks 33rd in the NFL, and his on-target throw percentage (62.1%) is second-to-last in the league according to Pro Football Reference. Ben Johnson has been vocal about needing improvement in Williams’s accuracy, even while praising his decision-making and poise.

The Bears play the Packers again just 13 days later—December 20th at Soldier Field—marking the first time the rivals have met twice in such a short span since 1985. That rematch could be even more consequential depending on how Sunday unfolds.

Beyond Green Bay, Chicago still has dates with San Francisco and Detroit, along with matchups against lesser opponents that suddenly feel like trap games for a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.

But first comes Sunday. First comes Lambeau. First comes the chance to prove that the Bears aren’t just better than they were—they’re better than everyone thought they could be.

Superman vs. Kryptonite

Every hero faces their defining moment. For Superman, it’s always been kryptonite—that glowing green weakness that turns the most powerful being in the universe into a vulnerable man.

For Caleb Williams, kryptonite wears green and gold. It plays 200 miles north. It has haunted Bears quarterbacks for generations.

But superheroes don’t become legends by avoiding their weaknesses. They become legends by overcoming them.

Williams has spent two years preparing for this moment. He’s endured the sacks, survived the losses, learned the lessons, and built the belief. He’s transformed his body, refined his game, and elevated everyone around him. He’s done everything asked of him and more.

Now comes the test.

Can Superman beat the Bears’ kryptonite? Can Williams silence the doubters, conquer the demons, and stake Chicago’s claim as the best team in the NFC North?

Sunday at Lambeau Field, we’ll find out.

The 9-3 Bears aren’t just going to Green Bay hoping to compete. They’re going there expecting to win. They’re going there as the better team, the hungrier team, the team with more to prove and less to lose.

They’re going there with a second-year quarterback who has already rewritten the franchise record books and changed the culture. A quarterback who doesn’t flinch in big moments, who delivers when it matters most, who has earned the right to be compared to the heroes who came before him.

Caleb Williams is Superman. Green Bay has always been his kryptonite.

On Sunday, December 8th, at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX, the entire football world will watch to see if he’s finally strong enough to overcome it.

The Bears believe he is. Williams believes he is.

Now it’s time to prove it.