CHICAGO (AP) _ Ricky Williams is going to be the NFL's best running back since Walter Payton.

Ricky Williams is going to be another Ki-Jana Carter.

Ricky Williams is going to be, well, it's really too early for anyone to know yet.

"Whether he does everything in pro football that some of the real great ones have done, I don't know. But he certainly has all the tools," New Orleans coach Mike Ditka said. "The thing that's hurting right now is we haven't gotten to see him really at what he should be at because of the ankle and now the elbow."

Williams hyperextended his right elbow on the Saints' final offensive play Sept. 19, and is listed as questionable for Sunday's game between New Orleans (1-1) and Ditka's old team, the Chicago Bears (1-2).

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Coach. I have no idea," Williams said Thursday when asked whether he'll play this weekend. "It's so weak, I can't really use it that much, not as much as I'm used to."

With Ditka downplaying his return to Chicago -- it's been 14 years since his Bears won the Super Bowl, he's been gone for six and only one Bear is left from the Ditka Era -- the focus shifts to Williams, like it does almost every week.

Never before has so much been expected of one rookie. As the Heisman Trophy winner and the NCAA's career leading rusher, Williams would have been under a lot of pressure no matter what.

Then came Ditka's draft-day trade, and things really got out of control.

Ditka gave up his entire draft, an NFL first, to get Williams. Not three or four picks. Eight. While other teams have profiles of five or six draft picks in their media guides, New Orleans only has Williams.

When it comes to the Saints' future, Williams is it.

"They've got their weight on his shoulders and he's got to carry it," Bears defensive tackle Mike Wells said. "That's a lot of pressure for a young guy. For anyone, not just a young guy."

Making it tougher is that Williams, who rushed for 6,279 yards and 72 touchdowns on 1,011 carries at Texas, has been hampered by injuries. Williams, who didn't miss a game at Texas, got in on only nine plays in the Saints' first exhibition game before injuring his left ankle. He spent the rest of the preseason on the treadmill and in treatment.

In the season opener, he played one quarter before spraining his left ankle again. In the second game, he hyperextended his right elbow on the Saints' final offensive play and has practiced this week with a brace.

Is this is a sign of things to come or just a streak of bad luck?

"I'm not too worried about it," Williams said of his injuries. "I just play it off as bad luck, and hopefully it gets better."

But the Saints' future is tied to that luck, good or bad. This is the last year of Ditka's self-imposed, three-year plan to return the Saints to the playoffs, and the only way they're going to get there is with Williams carrying the ball.

Win, and Ditka is genius. Lose, and it's the biggest blunder in football.

"If you believe that's the player, absolutely," Bears coach Dick Jauron said when asked if he'd gamble like Ditka did. "If you believe that's the guy that's going to put you over the hump, absolutely you do it."

Carrying a team is a tough spot to be in, but Williams has one very big thing going for him: Ditka. Iron Mike is ga-ga over his new running back, donning dreadlocks after the draft and posing with a wedding-dress-wearing Williams for a magazine cover.

"He's got a coach who believes in him," said Curtis Enis, the fifth pick overall in the 1998 draft. "Last year, it was kind of up and down, the feelings I had about our coaching staff. This year, it's a different situation. The coaching staff believes in me.

"That's cool for a coach to give up that much and then share his feelings openly about how he feels about him," Enis added. "Coach Ditka knows he's going to go through some ups and downs, but when he really starts coming into his own, Ricky is going to have more ups than he's going to have downs."

NEW ORLEANS Season schedule and results

CHICAGO Season schedule and results

September 12 Carolina W 19-10 September 19 @San Francisco L 21-28 October 3 @Chicago 1:00pm ET October 10 Atlanta 1:00pm ET October 17 Tennessee 1:00pm ET October 24 @NY Giants 1:00pm ET October 31 Cleveland 1:00pm ET November 7 Tampa Bay 4:05pm ET November 14 San Francisco 1:00pm ET November 21 @Jacksonville 8:20pm ET November 28 @St. Louis 1:00pm ET December 5 @Atlanta 1:00pm ET December 12 St. Louis 1:00pm ET December 19 @Baltimore 1:00pm ET December 24 Dallas 3:05pm ET January 2 @Carolina 1:00pm ET

September 12 Kansas City W 20-17 September 19 Seattle L 13-14 September 26 @Oakland L 17-24 October 3 New Orleans 1:00pm ET October 10 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET October 17 Philadelphia 1:00pm ET October 24 @Tampa Bay 1:00pm ET October 31 @Washington 1:00pm ET November 7 @Green Bay 1:00pm ET November 14 Minnesota 1:00pm ET November 21 @San Diego 4:15pm ET November 25 @Detroit 12:40pm ET December 5 Green Bay 1:00pm ET December 19 Detroit 1:00pm ET December 26 @St. Louis 1:00pm ET January 2 Tampa Bay 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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