The Bears showed how much Caleb Williams already means to them after Azeez Al-Shaair's hard hit

So far in his young NFL career, there's been nothing to indicate that the Chicago Bears' other players actively dislike Caleb Williams. But we haven't seen a perfect example of how deeply they care about the No. 1 overall pick in a game yet, either.

This is a lesson that Houston Texans' defender Azeez Al-Shaair quickly learned on Sunday night.

After Al-Shaair leveled Williams with a hard hit in bounds on a long first down next to the Bears' sideline, it felt like the entire offense (the entire team?) came to Williams' defense without thinking while ALSO being very smart about it. (Note: Al-Shaair clearly punched Bears running back Roschon Johnson but wasn't flagged.)

Just remember that Williams hadn't even played two full games at the time of this play. And the Bears are already doing this kind of thing for him.

That speaks volumes:

Williams remains a huge work in progress. It will probably take some time before he starts really living up to the hype as a rookie quarterback. The fact that the Bears are willing to fall on a sword for him in this manner says everything. They clearly have full belief he will get there because he's already Their Guy.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Bears showed how much Caleb Williams already means to them after Azeez Al-Shaair's hard hit