As if Caleb Williams didn't already have enough pressure on him heading into his second season as the Chicago Bears franchise QB1 and hyped former No. 1 pick.
"Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die," is the headline quote from Carl Williams, Caleb's father, in an explosive new excerpt from ESPN NFL reporter Seth Wickersham's new book, "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," coming out in September.
The TL;DR version. Given the Bears' history of not having an all-time great quarterback, with the dubious distinction of never having one throw for more than 4,000 yards, mixed with a questionable coaching staff under defensive-minded head coach Matt Eberflus, the Williams father-son duo wanted other options, going so far as to consider signing with the United Football League.
To make matters worse for Bears fans, the Heisman Trophy winner wanted to go the NFC North division rival Minnesota Vikings because the USC standout had a great rapport with their head coach, Kevin O'Connell.
It's all salacious and grabs headlines. But who cares now.
Dad and son turned out to be right about Eberflus. The Bears fired him mid-seasons, the first time in franchise history, after ironically enough, the 23-year-old rookie stunningly didn't call a timeout when they were in position to upset the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.
The NFL has a history of all-time great QBs going diva
Two other famous quarterbacks, with the help of their fathers, memorably upended the NFL draft by refusing to play for the teams that wanted to take them with the No. 1 overall pick - John Elway and Eli Manning.
Elway refused to play for the Indianapolis Colts, threatening to play baseball for the New York Yankees instead, eventually getting traded to the Denver Broncos. Two Super Bowls and a legendary Pro Football Hall of Fame career later, it worked out well for the Broncos icon.
The same thing happened as Manning, with the help of his former NFL-QB dad Archie, refused to play for the San Diego Chargers. Two Super Bowls later for the New York Giants, and again, not a bad outcome at all. The Chargers also made out well with Philip Rivers, as did Indy down the road with another QB icon, Eli's brother Peyton, of the now football and media moguls dynasty Mannings.
The senior Williams even got counsel and advice from Archie.
Caleb wants to be a Chicago Bear. Period.
What's buried in all the splashy headlines, Caleb eventually decided that he wanted the challenge of being the Bears sports savior.
"I can do it for this team," Caleb said to his father. "I'm going to go to the Bears."
And as I noted earlier this month, the Washington, D.C. native made a genius decision to stay in Chicago throughout the entire offseason, publicly showing up to Bulls and Cubs games, including the one where new Bears head coach Ben Johnson threw out the first pitch. Williams was also in the front row for Johnson's opening press conference.
Which bleeds into the last point - now Williams has Johnson, an offensive genius stolen from another NFC North rival, the Detroit Lions, who resurrected Jared Goff's career.
Johnson also assured Chicago fans that Williams is "proud to be a Bear."
Jayden Daniels has the lead, but it's still way-too-early to call it
The scrutiny is exponentially higher on Williams for various reasons like his unique personality (he paints his nails, oh no!), but none more so than the breakout stardom of the No. 2 overall pick, and fellow Heisman Trophy winner, Jayden Daniels.
While the stats look comparable, Daniels led the Washington Commanders all the way to the NFC Championship Game, highlighted by a huge upset win in Detroit against Johnson's juggernaut offense.
Williams was also much more sloppy at times, holding onto the ball too long to set a franchise record with 68 sacks.
But the Bears, under general manager Ryan Poles, did a great job addressing the offensive line issues through free agency and the draft. Plus, Johnson likes to have a dynamic running game to set up a prolific passing attack, so it's all setting up for Williams to have a great sophomore campaign.
And if Williams can win two Super Bowls like those other divas Elway and Manning, Chi-Town will easily forgive their sports savior.
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