Caleb Williams has Chicago praying they found their own Patrick Mahomes

Chicago is on fire. There are flames of real hope raging again across the Windy City.

The Caleb Williams Era begins on Sunday at Soldier Field against the Titans.

The much-ballyhooed cub quarterback who the town so desperately wants to believe is destined to grow into a forever Bear.

Sid Luckman retired in 1950, and quarterback has been a virtual wasteland since.

Bears fans are already trying to will it into existence: Caleb Williams is the long-lost savior of Papa Bear Halas’ storied franchise.

He is the kid from Gonzaga College High in D.C., who revered Aaron Rodgers, and there are some unmistakable off-schedule similarities.

But the better comparison is Patrick Mahomes.

We can’t help ourselves. We become mesmerized by the so-called generational talents and rush to stamp them as “the next” … the next Lawrence Taylor … the next Joe Montana … the next Michael Jordan … the next Willie Mays.

Much more often than not, there is no “next.”

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But in the Second City, certainly second to the Packers when Rodgers tormented them, Bears fans who have yet to witness a single 4,000-yard or 30-touchdown single-season passer, who hoped and prayed that Justin Fields would be their savior, and Mitchell Trubisky before him, and so many others before them, are blissfully gripped in the throes of Next Fever.

The Next Mahomes.

“They’re saying it because of the eye-popping physical skills,” ESPN NFL and college football analyst Louis Riddick told Serby Says. “But that isn’t what is going to make him get there. “

Riddick recalls how evaluators considered Mahomes somewhat of a wild pony who required taming out of Texas Tech.

“The true comparison between any young hot quarterback prospect and Patrick Mahomes if you’re going to use that as your comparison, it’s the makeup. … You’ll always be able to find quarterbacks who could throw it as well as Patrick, who can run maybe even better than him, jump higher, all that s–t. But what makes Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes is who he is, not what he is. It’s who he is … he truly makes people want to play better because he’s their teammate.

“Now that he’s there in Chicago, can he lift the entire city and the entire team and make 52 other guys feel like ‘I’ve got to pick it up’ because of him. And not just the guys on the team — the trainers, the equipment staff, the player support programs, the personnel department, personnel assistants, grounds crew, gatekeepers, security guards. Does every single person when they see him go, ‘I got to be better today? Because that guy is trying to be better today.’ ”

They have flocked to YouTube to watch Williams perform his Heisman Trophy magic at USC ever since the Bears made him the first-overall pick of the 2024 draft, and will oblige any painted fingernails and pink phone if he can make the franchise relevant again.

He has told us that he was a big fan of Kobe Bryant and Superman, but when his team needs him the most, it gets much more Mamba Mentality from him than Clark Kent mentality. In the pressurized moments, he feels no pressure. Caleb Cool. He has told us that he will be chasing immortality.

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“He can throw the football in a special, effortless way,” Riddick said. “He doesn’t have to be on platform to throw the football with accuracy as good as some people throw it when they ***** are ***** on platform. He’s got a ridiculous amount of natural instinct as far as a playmaker is concerned. He knows that, he knows he can go to it whenever he wants, because it’s something that he trusts, and he trusts it because he’s been doing it for so long at such a high level of success.”

Just because C.J. Stroud won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023 doesn’t mean that should be the expectation for Caleb Williams. Peyton Manning and John Elway, both first-overall picks, struggled mightily as rookies. So did Eli Manning. Google JaMarcus Russell.

Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith as a rookie until the regular-season finale, a luxury that won’t be available to Williams. Nor will playing for Andy Reid. Nor will throwing to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce.

But Bears GM Ryan Poles has assembled weapons that will offer comfort to Williams in WRs DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and rookie Rome Odunze. The offensive line, which has struggled in pass protection, returns four starters. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron got rave reviews from former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

As the starter in 2018, Mahomes (50 TDs, 5,097 yards) was NFL MVP and won the first of his three Super Bowls a year later. Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was Mahomes’ quarterbacks coach in 2018. He had a bird’s-eye view of the “wow” plays that separate Mahomes. When you ask him what stood out at USC about Williams, Kafla said, “The ‘wow’ plays.”

Wow! indeed.

“He’s faster than Patrick,” Riddick said. “He’s a better runner than Patrick. His ability to get the ball out and get it down the field — **** far ***** down the field with accuracy, whether it’s in structure or out of structure — is on par with Patrick’s.”

Giants practice squad safety Alex Johnson played against Williams while at UCLA.

“Crazy competitor,” Johnson told The Post. “Accurate passer. Always gotta be aware of him moving around the pocket, and I think he was the No. 1 pick for a reason.”

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Williams, while at Lincoln Riley’s Oklahoma, turned a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak in relief of Spencer Rattler into a 66-yard TD run against Texas, and never looked back.

“I think it’s an underrated part of his game,” Johnson said. “He’s a very capable runner, but it’s not something he’s looking to do at first, he’s looking down the field more so, but if you give him an open lane he’ll definitely run it.”

Williams is one of eight Bears captains. His intangibles are considered off the charts. His Caleb Cares Foundation champions mental health awareness and the prevention of bullying. Crying with his mother after losing to Washington last year? Caleb cares. And won’t stop caring and being Caleb.

“I think expectations have been a part of his life for a long time, in particular since he won the Heisman and was trying to defend that Heisman Trophy,” Riddick said. “I think what’s more important is how do the people around him handle expectations? Everyone else’s expectations, and everyone else’s demands on his time, and everyone else pulling him in a bunch of different directions is what ultimately winds up wearing his ass out, and then he’s not able to focus on the main thing in the first place, which was just being a great quarterback. I’m not worried about him being able to live up to it.”

Like Mahomes, Williams is a last-quarterback-with-the-ball threat to break the opponent’s heart. He won a high school state championship on a walkoff Hail Mary.

“The kid’s stupid talented,” Riddick said.

David Jackson is 41 and a lifelong Bears fan. He is bullish on this team … and this rookie quarterback.

“He’s the Bryce Harper of football, right? Bryce Harper, he was made to hit the hell out of a baseball and play the game of baseball. Caleb Williams is the next guy made to play football,” Jackson said over the phone at the upscale Chicago sports lounge Theory.

Jackson prefers to wait on the “next Mahomes” talk: “I think he has the traits, right? He can throw the ball from any spot, he can make a play last long, he’s got a winning mentality … he’s got all the traits that Mahomes has. Let’s beat the Packers and then we’ll answer that question.”

If Caleb Williams is the next Mahomes, he will beat the Packers. And everyone else.

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