The clock on Caleb Williams’ Chicago Bears future seems like it’s starting to tick away. As it does, the pocket of opportunity for Williams to be an excellent NFL quarterback appears to be closing up.
Ever since his debut last season after being drafted No. 1 overall, it seems like Williams has been in a constant scramble on the field and off, facing constant scrutiny by traditional media for his play and social media for how different he is emotionally compared to everyone else in the league.
His season hasn’t started off on the right foot, losing a close game to the Minnesota Vikings 27-24 and being whooped by the Detroit Lions 52-21. He went through peaks and valleys last season too, but Williams shouldn’t be called a bust just yet.
How can you say that a player who won a Heisman and was a shoe-in to be the No. 1 pick is never going to live up to expectations when he’s only played 19 games in his NFL career?
Many top quarterback prospects had worse rookie seasons than Williams, yet they went on to have fantastic careers.
John Elway went 4-6 with seven touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 11 starts for the Denver Broncos. Eventual Indianapolis Colts legend Peyton Manning completed just 56% of his passes and led the NFL with 28 interceptions. Troy Aikman had a 9-18 touchdown-to-interception ratio his first year with the Dallas Cowboys, throwing for 1,749 yards and losing his first 11 starts.
All three of these quarterbacks were picked No. 1 in their respective drafts and went on to carve out their legacy in the NFL by winning Super Bowls (and Super Bowl MVPs) in the process.
Williams had better rookie stats than all three of those Hall of Fame quarterbacks too, throwing for 3,500 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions.
I’m not saying Williams will follow their careers exactly. But there have been so many blueprints of players being written off who, as Geno Smith would say, didn’t write back.
In the current NFL landscape, Baker Mayfield has found success with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sam Darnold revived his career with the Minnesota Vikings last season and Smith’s confidence blossomed with the Seattle Seahawks three years ago.
Williams has the offensive talent around him and a new, offensive-minded head coach in Ben Johnson this year. It’s now on him to make the necessary changes to live up to the potential of what this offense can be with him under center.
There have been many recent highly touted quarterbacks that have had coaching changes in their second season too. Derek Carr, Trevor Lawrence and Jared Goff all vastly improved under their new coaches, but Williams hasn’t taken that same leap yet in year two.
Yes, last week’s demolition against NFC North rival Detroit was the worst the Bears have looked with Williams under center. At the end of the game, he was benched for backup quarterback Tyson Bagent with the score out of hand.
However, last Sunday’s game seems like the wake-up call that Williams finally needed in the NFL. He’s never had failure to this extent in his career, where he’s struggling alongside his team.
If Williams wants to prove everyone wrong, now is the time to do it.
His leadership has come into question. Is he mentally strong enough to lead a NFL franchise? Many moments are framed by the media as suggesting otherwise, such as painting his nails, crying in his mother’s arms and wearing unordinary outfits.
In reality, he’s always been a person his teammates can gravitate to, especially at USC. His former left guard Andrew Voorhees mentioned that he “genuinely cares” and “brings people together”, mainly because he tries to be his unique and genuine self.
At USC, while all of his fellow athletes zoomed by students on scooters given to them by the school, it was Williams who refused to use one. He walked on his own, books in hand, wanting to be in the present.
That meant always having conversations with people that came up with him, signing personalized autographs for students and taking photos with anyone who asked.
He even collaborated with the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism on a campaign to “seize the awkward” and emphasize a team mentality when combating mental illness and the stigma of talking about it aloud.
His time at USC showed why he’s a leader on and off the field. Right now, he needs to lean on
his plethora of offensive weapons, his offensive line that’s graded out in the top 10 and his new head coach.
Williams’ teammates and coaches believe in him and support him just like the staff at the Daily Planet. Now he needs to go out there and be the Superman he knows he can be.