TRYING TO ESCAPE CHICAGO WILL HAUNT CALEB WILLIAMS, WHO MUST WIN NOW
He attempted to find a loophole and consider a deal with the United Football League, according to a book by an ESPN writer, and Williams has no choice but to excel in Year Two to avoid harsh criticism
Already, the new head coach of the Chicago Bears thinks he is blessed. “I’ve heard rumblings,” said Ben Johnson, suggesting divine support from Pope Leo XIV. The team just finished a strong draft and should be fairly competitive from the opening Monday night game on the lakefront, against the Minnesota Vikings.
But just as traffic strangles expressways and teenagers overtake Streeterville, the quarterback position in Lake Forest always is throttled by some form of insanity. Turns out Caleb Williams, viewed as the franchise’s most talented player ever at the position, preferred to play for the Vikings — and not the Bears.
If not any other NFL team.
Until he reaches the playoffs or leaves for another place, Williams will be haunted by the contents of a new book authored by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham. As some of us heard loudly before the 2024 draft, Williams and his father, Carl, summoned lawyers to weasel their way out of Chicago. The book says the family considered signing a deal with the United Football League and tried to find a loophole in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, so Caleb could locate a new team this year.
Williams had no faith in the Bears and their flawed quarterbacking history, no faith in head coach Matt Eberflus and no faith in new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. The dismal situation involving a future stadium — downtown or Arlington Heights — bothered Carl, who lives in Washington and wanted Caleb to play for the Commanders. Turns out they drafted Jayden Daniels, yikes. They did their homework on the failings of the Bears, who won a Super Bowl 40 years ago and mostly have stumbled since.
“I don't want my son playing for the Bears," Williams told agents in 2024, according to Wickersham. He went so far to speak with Archie Manning, whose son, Eli, blew off the Chargers and settled for a deal with the Giants. “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die,” Carl said.
As he wailed about the rookie wage scale — “the worst piece of s— I’ve ever read … the worst in sports history” — his son was meeting at the league combine with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell.
“I need to go to the Vikings," Caleb told his father.
“Let's do it," Carl replied.
The Vikings? Twice a season, Williams will be playing Minnesota, a team loathed by people who still root for the Bears. This Sept. 8, he will rush into Soldier Field and try to pummel the purple pariahs and their rookie quarterback, J.J. McCarthy. General manager Ryan Poles could have sighed and traded Williams, as the Chargers did with Manning, as the Baltimore Colts once did with John Elway. According to Wickersham, Poles said, “We’re drafting you no matter what.”
Said Carl, of his mindset at the time: “(Caleb is) worried about me taking bullets. I don't care. I just don't agree with this s---, you know? I'm more interested in making sure that he can do what he wants to do.”
Caleb decided to stick with Chicago. “I wasn't ready to nuke the city,” he said. After a visit to the practice facility, he told his father, “I can do it for this team, I’m going to go to the Bears.”
The book is called: “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback” and will be published in September. When Daniels is considered a superb prize, Williams requires work for the Bears to make the playoffs in the formidable NFC North. Poles drafted tight end Colston Loveland and receiver Luther Burden III to help the quarterback. DJ Moore and Rome Odunze are in place for Johnson, hailed as an offensive guru. The offensive line will protect Williams instead of allowing him to be sacked 68 times. The Bears should score points.
If not, Williams will be blamed. Year Two provides no goodwill for the No. 1 overall pick last year. Johnson, who was told of the Wickersham story by Fox radio host Colin Cowherd, said Thursday, “I see a chance for greatness here for him. He's been communicated that way and he feels the same way. I don't know what's gone on prior to him joining the organization, but he is very proud to be a Chicago Bear. That's what our conversations have included. He's really excited to get to work right now and be the best version of himself for 2025."
Caleb Williams is “proud” to be a Chicago Bear until the team loses. He suffered 12 losses last season, when he often watched film alone. “No one tells me what to watch," Caleb Williams told his dad. “I just turn it on."
With Johnson, he says, “Him pushing me is key. I know that, and he knows that. ... I can't wait and to be able to help me learn more about ball because he's super smart, super sharp.”
The Bears will call it an old story. Nothing is old about the psyche of Caleb Williams and how he intends to succeed in a town of broken-down quarterbacks. The Vikings? He’d better be ready to throw four touchdown passes on Opening Night.
Or else? Hello, Jay Cutler.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.