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Caleb Williams was positioned as a potential savior for the Bears after the team selected him with the top overall pick in 2024. That didn’t end up being the case during his first season in Chicago, but there’s some new evidence that shows how badly he was hung out to dry by the coaches who were eventually kicked to the curb.
Fans of the Chicago Bears have become accustomed to disappointment over the past couple of decades, but they got a glimmer of hope after the franchise earned the right to select Caleb Williams with the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft with a little bit of help from the Panthers.
It was the kind of acquisition that could make even the most pessimistic Bears fan excited for the season, and it didn’t seem like a huge stretch to suggest the USC standout had what it took to become the first QB in the history of the franchise to throw for 4,000 yards.
That did not end up being the case, as Williams finished with 3,541 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions as the Bears missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row while finishing at 5-12.
The bulk of the blame ended up falling on the shoulders of former head coach Matt Eberflus, who was fired midway through his third season during an ill-fated run where he posted a 14-32 record. The Bears will enter the 2025 campaign with a new coaching staff led by former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and it seems very likely Williams will end up reaping the benefits of that changing of the guard.
That’s especially true based on an excerpt from Seth Wickersham’s upcoming book American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback that was featured in an ESPN article filled with quotes from Williams’ dad, Carl.
The elder Williams was not thrilled with the idea of his son ending up on the Bears, and they reportedly discussed the possibility of going to the USFL or publicly stating he wouldn’t sign with Chicago if they drafted him in order to avoid that fate.
However, they ultimately accepted it, and it appears those fears were realized based on one particularly eye-opening revelation Wickersham was able to dig up:
At times, Williams said he would watch film alone, with no instruction or guidance from the coaches. “No one tells me what to watch,” Caleb Williams told his dad. “I just turn it on.”
Here’s to hoping Williams won’t have to deal with the same kind of QB malpractice during Johnson’s regime.
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