Admittedly, I am not the biggest Caleb Williams fan. His talent is off the charts, but I often wonder if he has the mental makeup to handle being the face of a dysfunctional NFL franchise. The Chicago Bears made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Before it became inevitable that the Bears were going to take him, Williams and his father Carl preferred to land elsewhere.
News of this stems from an ESPN article touching on how the Williams' wanted to avoid Caleb going to the Bears at all costs. "Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die" is what Carl Williams told Seth Wickersham in his book, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, in the lead-up to the 2024 NFL Draft. Caleb Williams did not seem overly excited about working with Shane Waldron either.
"Do I want to go there? I don't think I can do it with [Shane] Waldron."
Well, those quotes were from over a year ago. Waldron is gone and in comes former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to be Williams' next head coach. The Bears should be trending up under their new coaching staff, but Ryan Poles still remains as their head coach and the McCaskeys still own the team. All the while, it does not seem like Williams is too overly miffed by the ESPN article.
His two most recent tweets suggest that he could not care any less about what ESPN just published.
Williams loves him some Rome Odunze collaboration content, as well as a poster for an upcoming boxing match.
Williams also just recently reposted a tweet from the Bears account with the caption "Year 2 loading."
Williams is not entirely off the hook here, but it is safe to say he is happy playing for Chicago now.
Caleb Williams' social media activity says he is happy playing in Chicago
When Williams was coming out of USC, he was tabbed as the next Patrick Mahomes. That may be a soul-crushing revelation to the incredibly impressionable Dylan Raiola over in Lincoln, Nebraska, but I will never deny Williams of the talent he possesses. My concern with him was always above the shoulders, especially with an overbearing sports father constantly in his ears. You just hate to see it.
In truth, I think Williams is going to end up being closer to Cam Newton than he is to Jeff George. Both men were mega talents who went No. 1 overall to non-winning franchises. Newton became a Hall of Very Good player before injuries derailed his career. George's rocket right arm kept giving him opportunities, his gunslinger mentality and overall goofy nature would have ended it for most sooner.
In the end, the Bears are hoping the Johnson/Poles/Williams era of Chicago football will bear fruit and not be yet another barren harvest. Chicago is probably a fourth-place team in a deep NFC North, but a lot can change over a year. It is good for the NFL to have a marketable star like Williams lead a team located in Chicago to the playoffs. Now in year two of the marriage, it seems fine.
Once again, a lot can change over the course of a year, so we can only hope the wins start coming.