Before the 2024 draft, the Chicago Bears knew they weren’t taking a traditional quarterback with Caleb Williams. Williams is media savvy in a way most stars in the league aren’t, and he had a knack for causing distractions at USC.
Williams caused a big distraction before voluntary veteran minicamp practices start next week. Caleb and his father, Carl Williams, went on the record with ESPN’s Seth Wickersham for a book coming out in September titled “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback.”
Caleb and Carl confirmed reports that the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner was concerned about going to the Bears. More importantly, Caleb shed light on what he felt was inadequate coaching from Matt Eberflus’ staff in 2024.
Caleb Williams going on the record is a big deal
The lazy take in the media has been to say that most of Wickersham’s reporting isn’t novel, as Caleb wanting to go to Minnesota and Shane Waldron not going over tape with his quarterback was touched on last year. Another talking point is that the book proves Williams wanted to join the Bears and turn around the team.
That’s missing the point.
The point isn’t that we got confirmation of what had already been known; it’s that we got confirmation from Caleb and Carl. They went on the record with Wickersham to air the Bears’ dirty laundry, and it didn’t make his boss, general manager Ryan Poles, look good.
The reports that came out last year about issues with Waldron and Eberflus were from anonymous sources. Make no mistake, Caleb and Carl made a power move by taking their grievances to Wickersham.
The Chicago Bears had a power struggle in the locker room in 2024
As I was thinking about Wickersham’s piece, I couldn’t help but remember the report last year from Marc Silverman that a “few” veterans wanted Williams benched for Tyson Bagent. There was a real power struggle going on in the locker room in 2024, and it doesn’t appear over by a long shot.
The material Caleb and Carl provided to Wickersham reads vindictively (it was embarrassing to watch Jayden Daniels win Rookie of the Year).
It’s a warning and reminder to everyone in Halas Hall from players in the locker room, to general manager Poles, to CEO Kevin Warren; that yes, the Bears drafted Williams with the No. 1 pick in 2024, but he has power in his situation and will use the media to further his ambitions much in the same way his hero Aaron Rodgers does.
That takes a lot of confidence from a second-year player coming off a meh-rookie season. And it’s certainly easier to make power moves through ESPN than to earn the respect of veterans on the practice field.
New head coach Ben Johnson already had to downplay the report when he appeared on FS1’s “The Herd” on Thursday. He said Caleb wants to be a Bear and help the team.
But there’s an underlying threat involved to everyone in that locker room if things don’t go the Williams family way.
For a true American king.
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1 Comment
Caleb Williams and his Dad did NOT “go to Wickersham”, and the book is NOT ABOUT Caleb Williams! The book is about quarterbacks. Many quarterbacks. and Wickersham went to them. All of them.
Neither did Caleb, nor his Dad, cough up this information this week, nor this month, nor even this year! It takes a lot of time to write such a book!
And, as it turns out, Caleb was RIGHT about Waldron, and anyone with a brain can see that the Bears have ruined several very good quarterbacks over the last couple of decades, via classic McCaskey bad management!
This article is shameful, cry-baby journalism!