Caleb Williams' scorching-hot Patrick Mahomes take is free Chiefs bulletin board material

Caleb Williams was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft for a reason. He's the best prospect to come across NFL radars in a minute, blessed with nuclear athleticism and the ideal QB skill package. As the league embraces dual-threat quarterbacks more and more, Williams will have a chance to carve out a long, successful career for a Chicago Bears team in desperate need of dependable QB play.

And yet, Williams' NFL tenure is off to a rocky start. Not because of anything on the field or out of training camp. No, we're talking about Williams' career in the public eye. As quarterback of the Bears and purveyor of dreams in Chicago, Williams has a certain responsibility to act in the best interest of the franchise.

So, naturally, Williams has taken what appears to be an inadvertent shot at the league's best player. When discussing his deep-rooted affection for Matthew Stafford — not exactly playing to his audience, folks — the USC product named his top-two quarterbacks in the NFL. The Pride of Chicago put Stafford at No. 2 and Aaron Rodgers at No. 1, saying there weren't "two or three" quarterbacks in the league better than the current Los Angeles Rams signal-caller.

Hot take.

If you, too, noticed the very conspicious absence of a certain three-time Super Bowl MVP from the Kansas City Chiefs, you are not alone. Where the heck is Patrick Mahomes?

Caleb Williams somehow leaves Patrick Mahomes off of top QB list

This is particularly rich since Williams has been compared to Mahomes ad nauseam for the past couple years. The off-balance throws, the acrobatic sack evasion, the dual-threat explosiveness. There are undeniable parallels, even if it's wildly unfair to hold a rookie quarterback to that sort of standard.

For Williams to flat-out ignore Mahomes when talking about the best quarterbacks is amusing. The Chiefs tend to collect bulletin board material as diligently as any team in football, so Mahomes will surely lay eyes on this before too long. Williams probably has no malicious intent — I'd believe him if he said Mahomes didn't even cross his mind — but it's hard to call Aaron Rodgers the best quarterback in the NFL without raising a few eyebrows.

Frankly, the Bears' prized No. 1 pick going with Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford of Green Bay and Detroit fame is a real gut-punch to the fandom. At least Mahomes rests outside the Bears' sphere of interest. Rodgers and Stafford are Public Enemy No. 1 and Public Enemy No. 2 in the state of Illinois. Williams is voting on the wrong ballot.

Does this actually mean, like, anything? Not really in terms of football. Williams was just admiring Stafford, a QB who doesn't get his due credit often enough. If Williams can follow in Stafford's footsteps in terms of NFL success, the Bears will be awfully pleased with the outcome of his career. Every player has their favorites growing up — just watch every NBA prospect list Paul George as their GOAT — so there's no reason to take this as an actual potshot as the Chiefs' superstar.

Still, Mahomes is a GOAT in the making. We have not seen a talent of his caliber since, well, Tom Brady. Which was actually pretty recent. But it's not common, and it's always a bit funny when NFL players don't recognize what's happening right in front of them. It's either obliviousness or willful ignorance. Mahomes will be remembered as one of the best to ever suit up once his career ends, which could be a decade-plus from now. In the present, however, he's still the competition for a lot of NFL folks. Such is life.