Lincicome: Accepting Williams’ ups and downs as Bears quarterback

Learning to live with Captain YoYo, the Bears quarterback, is no less frustrating than ever, inconsistency being the one consistent thing before this quarterback and whomever the next one might be.

Any quarterback is only as good as his last game, and as yo-yos are wont to do, this one is down, promising to come back up, dashing doubts and confirming faith.

Believers still outnumber skeptics in the ongoing examination of Caleb Williams, a testament to wishes more than to reality, there being evidence enough for both sides.

Supporters rely on statistics — though as Mark Twain once pointed out, there are lies, damned lies and statistics — which indicate that Williams has improved his quarterback rating — a geek stat since surpassed by incursive analytics that prove nothing — his downfield yardage, his low interception rate.

Detractors rely on their eyesight. He holds the ball too long. He throws to the wrong receiver. He runs too soon. He paints his fingernails.

Nitpickers like to point out that other quarterbacks of his class, those drafted after him, are performing better, most notably Washington’s Jayden Daniels, New England’s Drake Maye and Denver’s Bo Nix.

“Kudos to him and them,” Williams was quoted as saying about Maye. “I don’t compare.”

Maybe he does not, but everyone else does, the example of Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes is a Bears sore that will never heal.

A consistent defense of Williams not being all that he might be is his having to learn a whole new offensive system under new coach Ben Johnson. The conflicting reality is that, in his own way, Johnson was as celebrated an addition to the Bears as was Williams.

A young “genius” thus has to justify nearly as much hype as does Williams, the difference being that one is a head coach and the other is a tool. If Johnson demands more than Williams can deliver, it is likely Johnson will outlast the quarterback.

Bears coaches usually are around longer than Bears quarterbacks. I recall Mike Ditka grumbling about Jim McMahon not paying attention to him. “He won’t write my epitaph,” Ditka said.

Still, Ditka and McMahon made it work, thanks in no small part to the greatest running back in history and the greatest defense ever, not that this Bears team is close to having either.

The possibility must be considered that two “elite” talents like Williams and Johnson (sounds like a pharmaceutical company) may never mesh, that Williams is not a quick learner or that Johnson is not a good teacher. Maybe both.

When a coach says that leaders in the locker room need to fix what’s wrong with a team, he is not going to get any change back from the buck he just passed.

When a coach sums up his franchise quarterback’s play by saying it was better in a losing game than it was in his last two winning games, someone needs a cognitive ability exam.

“He (Williams) is working is tail off,” said Johnson, meaning he needs to.

So, then, is Williams a bust? A little early to say, but if Bears’ quarterback miseries have taught anything it is that it is never too early to question.

It is fair to say that Williams is a disappointment, which is in itself a compliment. A Bears quarterback can only be disappointing when more is expected. In Williams’ case he is pretty much the same as those before him, statistically, theoretically and visually.

To get back to the Captain YoYo image. Up he goes. Down he goes.

Williams looks like a quarterback, painted nails aside, plays like a quarterback, though uneasy under center, performs like a quarterback, finding receivers more times than not, padding his status with the help of turnovers and field-goal kickers.

This may not be the best resume for the overall No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, a Heisman Trophy winner, a “generational talent” and franchise redeemer, and therein lies the problem.

To quote that famous Peanuts philosopher, Linus Van Pelt, “There is no heavier burden than a great potential.”

Whew, even cartoons are on his side.