O’Donnell: Bears’ Williams had to note Daniels’ MNF fireworks
THE WORST REVELATION FOR BEARS FANS didn't come during the pressured meltdown of Caleb Williams at Indianapolis Sunday.
The rough stuff reached crescendo Monday night when Jayden Daniels presented opulently impressive credentials as the best rookie QB in the NFL.
Washington made Daniels the No. 2 pick in the '24 Draft. That was one click behind Williams.
On “Monday Night Football” at Cincinnati, Daniels left no doubt that his formidable skillset is passing through any apprentice phase at a much faster clip than the heavily-imposted Williams.
THE LANKY 2023 HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER finished 21 of 23 passing — a league rookie game record of 91.3%. That was good for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He had no turnovers and completed a game-clinching 27-yard TD dime to Terry McLaurin while getting buried by a Bengals blitz.
The Commanders — 7 1/2-point road 'dogs — won 38-33.
Of greater interest to Bears fans, Daniels appeared to play mentally unencumbered throughout. He fluidly checked out of plays, crisply executed much of what OC Kliff Kingsbury called and had the bearing of a confident young field commander immune to any yapping from the sideline and beyond.
QUESTIONS NOW IN PLAY around Halas Hall:
--- Did Ryan Poles muff the No. 1 pick by taking Williams over Daniels?
--- After watching how quickly a talented young quarterback can assimilate into the NFL, are Williams and his closest advisers asking, “What have we gotten into in Chicago? Is this really the Drag City we've been warned about?”
--- If the Bears return from their Oct. 13 weekend in London vs. Jacksonville at 1-5, do the immediate futures of Matt Eberflus and/or first-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron undergo bye-week dicing in Lake Forest?
JUSTIN FIELDS IS 3-0 AMID the welcoming clear channels of Mike Tomlin and the Steelers. Matt Nagy has won two Super Bowl rings with the Chiefs since being hurled out of the Halas hell. Even the frequently mothballed Andy Dalton had a superb Sunday sparking the resuscitated Panthers.
So now does Caleb Williams realize that he's stuck inside of an NFL slow roll with those quick uptick blues again?
STREET-BEATIN':
Primary point to be hammered home again and again about Jerry Reinsdorf and his historically inept '24 White Sox is the amount of public money that has been utterly wasted on the draining sports business in the last 37 years. A single World Series championship (2005) has not been worth the diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars away from much more important civic matters. (Blame a whole lot of it on the imperious and untouchable ways of the late Jim Thompson.) …
Credible reports that NBC will extend Cris Collinsworth on “Sunday Night Football” through the 2029-30 NFL season. The network will also up his annual pay toward the $18M-per that Troy Aikman and Tony Romo currently command. (Nobody is foolish enough to make a run at Tom Brady's nonsensical $37.5M.) For one game, the No. 1 choice is either Aikman — even with his Jerry Stiller/Mickey Mouse hands — or Collinsworth. …
In a contest featuring the limp and the lame, a finalist for biggest “winner” of the 2024 MLB baseball seasons in Chicago has to be Craig Counsell. He bootlegged that $40M deal from the Cubs, apparently for his pleasing interview skills. Biggest Q. on the North Side: Will Tom Ricketts proactively acknowledge that Jed Hoyer is arced out as his head of baseball ops? …
WSCR-AM (670) wheezed home tied for 14th in the most recent Nielsen Audios. Still, that's something to bring to advertisers that unlisted WMVP-AM (1000) can't. Also at “The Score,” “budget-friendly” continues to stamp the product as some D-list voices have been shuffled. The Danny Parkins Domino Effect stumbles on. …
Kai Reinhard and Boneyard return to play above the pins at Gary Warren's River Rand Bowl in Des Plaines Saturday night. (They're a fun classic-rock listen; he's both the son and father of a Keith Reinhard.) …
DeMar DeRozan, now with the Sacramento Kings, has released a sharply introspective book — “Above the Noise: My Story of Chasing Calm” (Harmony, $28). The Bulls should purchase at least 10,000 copies to distribute to prep athletes — and encourage reading — in the Chicago area. …
Thomas Hammock and Northern Illinois can flatline for the rest of the season and fans of the Huskies will forevermore still have the happy club code words “Notre Dame, 2024.” For NIU peeps, that phrase already ranks with “Alabama, 2003” and “2013 Orange Bowl.” (Completing the DeKalb Corn quadfecta is “Glidden Family, Barbed Wire.”) …
And “I”-eyed Dave Fairfield, on the 18 points that Bret Bielema and unbeaten Illinois are getting at untested Penn State Saturday night (6:30 p.m., NBC): “I wish Dee Brown and Deron Williams could dress for the game.”
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.