Will Williams be the next Chicago sports immortal?
A bright shiny new thing awaits the Bears and all they need to do is point. His name is Caleb Williams and he is OK with it. Being a Bear, I mean.
There was some buzz that this was unclear, whether the quarterback from Southern California, the draft door prize du jour, wanted to join the menu of regret that links Bears quarterbacks.
Williams assures the curious that the prospect of being the Bears quarterback is “exciting,” but then so is sticking your fingers into a light socket, not that I’m recommending anyone try that at home.
“They got a good defense. They have good players on offense,” Williams said when asked about the Bears, his perspective unclear but one must assume that he has heard rumors that the Bears are building something special, more an echo than a rumor, actually.
“It’s pretty exciting if you can go into a situation like that,” he said.
Williams told ESPN that Chicago is his kind of town, though he has been here only once. He knows what most visitors know about sports around here, Walter Payton and Michael Jordan.
“It’s appealing to be in a city like that,” he said, “with legends that you’ve looked up to. As the saying goes, the legends live on. That’s my goal, to be immortal. I want to reach that sense of being a legend.”
I am assuming ESPN quoted Williams correctly, but immortality does seem to be a reach. Beating the Packers might be a more manageable goal.
What does he know? What do we know? We don’t even know if Williams will be the choice of the Bears, though the Fields-O-Meter does seem to be tilting to fare-thee-well Justin, thanks for all the thrills.
Say this for Fields, he was a “generational” quarterback, as Williams is supposed to be, though which generation has always been unclear. Fields was pure promise and tolerantly obedient, patient and trusting that the Bears would find someone to coach him. He was not a good NFL quarterback and very likely will never be, his future always an injury away.
And what of Williams? He won the Heisman Trophy, not recently and not nearly the heavy credential the Heisman used to be, maybe never was, thank you Johnny Manziel, a nod, too, to Tim Tebow.
His last season in college was a bit of a bummer for Williams, not in itself a disclaimer. Patrick Mahomes, for instance, was 5-7 his last season at Texas Tech which, no doubt, helped the Bears pluck Mitch Trubisky ahead of him.
I do not detect the public eagerness for Williams that came with Fields, who was believed from the beginning to be a new answer to an old question. Maybe that is because Williams toiled in a far time zone for a team too smug to bother with. So all must be taken on faith. Williams did not even work out in Indianapolis or, for that matter, even allow his temperature to be taken.
Williams is playing it cool. The Bears are playing it cool. Nobody is making promises but rather enjoying the swirl of attention that may never be greater than it is now. Ryan Poles is still a mastermind, Matt Eberflus is still a competent coach. Justin Fields is yesterday. Caleb Williams is tomorrow.
And yet we know that being the next quarterback of the Bears is like being the amuse-bouche; looks good but you invariably ask, “Is that all there is.”
Or, to put it another way, the next Bears quarterback is like the latest smart phone; got to have one now even though you know there is going to be a new model in a couple of years.
To reassure all who care, Williams said during the pro appraisal carnival in Indianapolis that he is not afraid of history nor of high expectations. He is, he said, a creator of history, a rewriter of history.
Let’s just say that if he comes to the Bears, he is going to need a box of pencils and a sharpener.
To immortality, and beyond.