Silvy: Williams needs some tough love to teach him how to work in the NFL

All eyes have been on the cocky kid from California who likes to express himself by painting a certain part of his body while trying to overcome a difficult first season in the pros. Sound like Caleb Williams? Wrong. It’s Pete Crow-Armstrong.

I’d like to tell Williams to take notice, but he already has. On April 19 the Bears quarterback took in the Cubs/Diamondbacks game and left with a PCA bobblehead and held it up to the Wrigley faithful like it was a trophy.

Many tried to label PCA after his roller-coaster 2024 season. Who was he to dye his hair blue, carry himself with a swagger, and catch flyballs in a nonchalant way as an unproven rookie? Crow-Armstrong was a hotshot prospect someone the Cubs had banked their future on, but he’d never hit for power and is too arrogant.

Everyone had an opinion on PCA’s personality, but nobody truly knew the man. It’s tough to get a clear picture from 30,000 feet. Turns out, the brash center fielder is one of the most thoughtful and humble players inside the Cubs clubhouse.

The power has arrived, PCA is an early MVP candidate, the Cubs are winning because of him, and he’s the toast of the fan base.

PCA never stopped working and even overcame a slow first couple of weeks this season and has since taken off like a rocket ship.

Now it’s up to Williams to take that sort of ride in his second season.

As a reminder, it’s not as simple as feeling more comfortable in Year 2 versus Year 1. PCA made real adjustments to his hitting fundamentals. I’m not asking Caleb to redo his throwing mechanics, but I sure hope he’s been in the lab. His deep ball accuracy was the most disappointing part of his physical skills and his footwork needed work. The biggest issue was holding onto the ball too long and processing things quicker. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Justin Fields, but anyone not willing to say it’s an issue is in Bears’ denial.

Nobody has ever had it worse as a rookie quarterback than Williams had it last year. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired in November, Matt Eberflus just weeks later and his offensive line was a disaster all year.

Ryan Poles claimed at the combine that Williams has a great work ethic but needed to learn the difference of how to work in an NFL week as opposed to a college football week. My question is, why wasn’t this addressed in season? Why didn’t Poles have someone fix it in real time?

I have no doubt Williams is a self-starter and has the motivation he needs to become great. As a child, when Caleb decided he wanted to play quarterback, his dad calmly warned that he must be committed to becoming great or the plug would be pulled. Williams never wavered.

I also have no doubt that Ben Johnson is exactly whom the QB needs to be developed. Johnson has a terrific playbook and a fantastic understanding of how to call plays, but it’s his demands and accountability that players rave about. There will be some high-stress moments in minicamps and training camp between the two and that’s a good thing. It’s actually called coaching, something most players missed out on in the Eberflus era. Most great players crave tough love.

There’s no shame with struggling with things as a rookie, the full story is told with how athletes adapt going forward.

PCA has shown what it means to a team and its fan base when the player bounces back and lives up to their potential. The Cubs also knew that adding a player like Kyle Tucker would only help take the pressure off. Poles has followed a similar game plan with by dealing for all-pro Joe Thuney while also rebuilding the offensive line.

Williams now has everything he needs.

It’s time to make the critics eat crow and show them that you’re arm strong.

• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.