A few weeks ago, you saw people saying he was a generational talent, that they would pick him (as a prospect coming out of college) over Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, John Elway, comparing his game to Patrick Mahomes. He has lost a few games this year but Jesus, his defense gives up 33 PPG, 420 yards of offense per game and they let people score 94% of the time in the redzone.
He has 119 total touchdowns over 3 years with only 13 ints. This year he is completing almost 70% of his passes. Are you guys genuinely concerned about his ability to play at the next level or is it just nit picking at this point?
Some evaluators labeled him “generational” which led to a bit of a hate circle-jerk overcorrection as soon as he started struggling. He has strengths and weaknesses just like every other prospect, but Caleb is a lightning rod for hot takes because of who he is, where he plays, and how much he was hyped up.
For me it has nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the Bears Organization’s track record with quarterbacks. This franchise has not shown any ability to develop a QB in the past 50 years, and I don’t expect that to change. Many good QBs have come through Chicago only to leave a shell of what we were promised. I believe Caleb may be the next great NFL QB, however, I can’t see that being true in Chicago.
The Bears Organization is built on a “defense first” mentality. And without a drastic change in coaching and management philosophy, we are not going to see that change anytime soon. Poles may be a smart GM, but would you trust Getsy, Eberflus, or any of the rest of the coaching staff to develop a young talent like Williams? How would you feel about having a new QB and a new OC and/or HC? Do you really trust the McCaskey’s to hire the best coach for that young talented QB? Because I DON’T.
This narrative has been said for many years and is utterly flawed and is done to cope with our QB not panning out. The same way people said we were ruining Mitch! he’ll go be a star somewhere else are doing the same with Fields. Those 2 can’t play the QB position, I don’t care if they were on the Eagles/49ers.
The Bears have drafted literally 1 QB in the top 10 since Jim McMahon (Trubisky) and have only drafted 5 QBs in the 1st round since 1960 - McMahon, Harbaugh, McNown, Grossman, Trubisky, and Fields.
Also none of these guys were really great prospects, McMahon 2nd QB selected, Harbaugh 4th QB selected, McNown 5th QB selected, Grossman 4th QB selected, Trubisky was the 1st QB selected, but also played like 13 games in college, and then Fields 4th QB selected.
This idea that we’re drafting premier talent and ruining them is so false and our QB “luck” is what every franchise has gone through.
I’m in no way saying we have had bad luck. I believe we have had plenty of serviceable QBs over the years. What the team has lacked, and still does (but is getting better), is a support system. In Lovie’s era we had the defense, but not a reliable offensive line. We even had the weapons under Trestman, but the offensive live was a sieve. Recently, the team management has started to pay attention to the offensive line, but at the expense of the defense.
In my mind we currently need a lot of pieces to be a decent team. Our secondary on defense while serviceable isn’t deep enough. I feel like we need one to two more DBs. On the DLine we just picked up a great addition in Sweat, but we need another threat up front so we can take the pressure off the DBs. That is at least 3 players on defense to get us where we need to be to be an average team in the league. On offense we still need two offensive linemen. We are have seen over the past few years how important having a healthy OLine is and having them all on the same page because they have experience working together will only help make the offense better. We also need a WR1 or WR2. I know we picked up Moore, but he can’t be our only weapon downfield. We either need a better WR1 to take his place and make him compete to earn back his WR1 position, or a better WR2 to support him and take some of the attention away from the defenses to free Moore up.All that said, we need more than just a QB to make this team better.
But recently, people are calling for coaches and managers to be fired. We need to have some continuity from this franchise and if we are yelling to fire our Offensive Coordinator, our Head Coach, or even our General Manager, we are not going to see the change that that coach (or GM) envisions for the team. If we as a fanbase want to see our Head Coach or Offensive Coordinator fired, then we need to have faith in our franchise to find a better one to replace them with. What I was saying in my original comment is, I don’t trust our franchise to pick a better OC, HC, or GM. And if we draft the best QB in the draft with a Top 5 Pick, and then they are coached by another Getsy, Lazor, Helfrich, Loggions, Gase, etc. we will be right back on the QB train again because we will still be either throwing screen passes or running the ball on 2nd an 8+ because they don’t have the balls call a pass play and throw the ball downfield. We will all be right back where we are now bitching and moaning about how this team can’t develop QB talent. And the thing is, it’s not a QB issue. It is a team issue.
I propose we trade down away from the QBs and pick up talent on both sides of the ball to build around. Get the DB or two that we need. Grab a DLineman. Grab a pair of WRs, an OT/G maybe even a Center that we need. Maybe pickup a TE that can bailout our QB when they are in the redzone or catch a pass on 3rd down past the sticks. We have a ton of cap space available and we need to find the players to pay it to. The most cost effective way to do that is through the draft. That way when out team is ready in a year or two we can pick up our QB and they can succeed like CJ is doing down in Houston.
The bears only drafted one early first round pick for a QB, the others are Rex who is a late round pick and fields who dropped hard in the draft and was only drafted by a desperate Ryan pace. Good teams keep trying to draft their QB and not cling on to bust qbs
There’s also a lot of people who saw him demonstrate immature behavior. In the Notre Dame game he was yelling at his teammates, blaming them for his own shortcomings. You could hear him and see him doing this throughout the game. It wasn’t hyping them up, it was him refusing to take accountability for why things weren’t working. That’s been a keystone trait of his…when things don’t go exactly right from the start of a game he doesn’t know how to adjust.
In two other games since then he’s had reactions where in one he sat on the bench refusing to cheer his D on/pouting, and the second game he, literally and not figuratively, ran into the stands and cried to his Mom over a loss. It’s also worth noting this wasn’t a few tears, but heaving breaths and tears to the point his Mom covered his face up.
There are more than just dubious reports that raise red flags with his behavior and maturity. He appears to be a lower ceiling/lower floor version of Fields but with maturity/leadership issues. He comes from a much weaker division but is playing worse.
These criticisms are such nonsense. Tom Brady would throw hissy fits on the sideline all the time. He’d yell at players, break tablets, etc. Aaron Rodgers is famous for shitbag behavior too. Players get emotional on the sidelines all the fucking time. Just ask yourself why Williams is getting so much hate, but this behavior is excused for other players.
Also, you are making shit up about lower ceiling/lower floor of Fields. This is quite literally the opposite.
You’re talking future first round HoF QB’s vs a college prospect who isn’t even the BPA in this draft. Additionally, I’ve consistently said I hate both Brady and Rodgers for the same reasons. Hell, listen to Fitzmagic talk about how much he hates Brady because the guy throws a fit and refuses to shake his hand if he loses. Just because people are willing to put up with them because of their skill doesn’t make it acceptable, and it certainly doesn’t alleviate it from being a red flag.
Also explain to me how he is a higher ceiling/higher floor option than Fields when he has never been to a national championship, has performed worse against ranked defenses, has the same weaknesses Fields was/is criticized for, and has the emotional/maturity issues.
You are scouting box scores. By your logic, Fields has a higher floor/ceiling than Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, Luck, and the many other elite QBs that have never been to a national championship.
I disagree on the Fields comparison. Fields had issues with mechanics, navigating the pocket, reading the field, and throwing into windows (waited for guys to get wide open). He still has all these issues.
Williams has his issues, but he checks most of the above boxes that Fields didn’t. Fields may seem like a better prospect because of the stats, but he had more around him to play with. More times then not his team was far superior than who they played against.
Williams Maturity on the other hand is absolutely a red flag.
The reporting stated that his dad was saying these things, which is neither a defense of the reporting itself or those reading it. Just because his dad is saying it doesn’t mean Caleb actually thinks it. But it is still concerning to have such a chaotic presence so close to who you would bet your franchises future on (The Ball family)
To me, the far bigger issues are what he has shown his own character to be while playing and that many of his playing weaknesses are the same as Fields.
His dad seems like he could definitely be a nuisance to have around if things start going poorly, but that quote about equity was from the summer and got taken way out of context. Florio reported about it immediately after CW’s worst game of his career and knew exactly what he was doing for the engagement.
Definitely agree on some of the on field stuff being a far bigger concern. I’ll be interested to see what all comes out about him during the pre-draft process with team interviews and whether teammates/coaches vouch for him.
He plays almost nothing like Fields - why the fuck do I keep seeing this idiotic nonsense?
He absolutely does not have the same weaknesses as Fields.
He also conducts himself like Ryan Leaf, which is concerning.