Early in the 2024 pre-draft process, there was plenty of speculation that quarterback Caleb Williams didn't want to play for the Bears.
And he didn't.
Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com has plenty of reporting on the subject in his upcoming book, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback. On Thursday, ESPN.com posted an article focusing on Williams’s reluctance to play for the Bears.
"Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die," Caleb's father, Carl Williams, told Wickersham.
Wickersham reports that Caleb Williams asked confidants regarding Chicago, "Do I want to go there? I don't think I can do it with [former Bears offensive coordinator Shane] Waldron."
Carl Williams reportedly was blunt with several agents: "I don't want my son playing for the Bears."
Caleb had a different target, in the same division.
"I need to go to the Vikings," Caleb Williams reportedly told his father.
"Let's do it," his father said.
That ended when Bears G.M. Ryan Poles told Caleb Williams that "[w]e're drafting you no matter what." They nevertheless considered going scorched earth against the Bears, with Carl taking the lead.
"He's worried about me taking bullets," Carl Williams told Wickersham. "I don't care. I just don't agree with this shit, you know? I'm more interested in making sure that he can do what he wants to do."
So with no way out, Caleb quickly progressed through the stages of anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
"I can do it for this team," Caleb told his father after a pre-draft visit to Chicago. "I'm going to go to the Bears."
Obviously, he did. It remains to be seen whether Wickersham's reporting creates any issues for Williams in Chicago. And it invites a fair question — will he sign an extension if the Bears decide to keep him for the long haul, or will he try to move on the first chance he gets?
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