As a Chicago Bears quarterback, and their extended history of failures at the position, Caleb Williams was probably always going to face tough sledding as a rookie for the NFL’s charter franchise.
According to ESPN writer Seth Wickersham’s new book “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback,” that wasn’t even the half of it. Former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron genuinely had no coherent plan for Williams during the 2024 season. It came to the point that he apparently often watched game film alone, with no guidance, in a pivotal developmental season for a young player.
Which, quite frankly, is bonkers to think about.
It should be no wonder that Williams initially wanted the Minnesota Vikings to draft him instead. Because this kind of absurd situation in Chicago was clearly just waiting to happen.
More from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham:
The book also sheds light on [Caleb] Williams’ tumultuous rookie season [in 2024], in which both [Matt] Eberflus and [Shane] Waldron were fired and the Bears lost 10 straight games.
At times, Williams said he would watch film alone, with no instruction or guidance from the coaches. “No one tells me what to watch,” Caleb Williams told his dad. “I just turn it on.”
Just when you think the Bears couldn’t possibly fumble the early development of a young quarterback any worse, their (thankfully) former coaches pull a stunt like that. I am, to put it mildly, more and more astonished every time I read that sequence. Come on now.
If there is a silver lining for Williams, it seems the Bears learned their lesson. This past January, they went out and hired the brilliant hotshot Ben Johnson as their head coach, the top NFL head coaching candidate this cycle and perhaps the best candidate in years. If there’s anyone who can get Williams back on track to reach his massive potential, it’d be Johnson, one of the NFL’s premier young coaches.
Plus, call it a hunch, but I don’t think Johnson will ever let Williams watch film alone. At least, not without some guidance or instruction first. Because who, in their right mind, would EVER do that to a young quarterback?
Oh, right. Well, that’ll be a huge first step for Williams and Johnson in itself.