Many of you have seen the new story from ESPN about ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham’s new book about quarterbacks. It’s been drawing tremendous coverage over a particularly detailed section about the Chicago Bears this past season, specifically about their rookie quarterback, Caleb Williams.
The story details Williams and his father, Carl, meticulously studying the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement to see if there were ways to avoid being drafted first overall by the Bears in the 2024 NFL Draft. In addition to trying to avoid Chicago, they looked at the rules regarding rookie contracts and franchise tags trying to find ways to avoid signing the rookie contract.
The part of the story that’s drawing the most attention is the part where it describes Caleb Williams watching tape by himself, without instruction from the coaches. I’ll add the passage from Wickersham himself;
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.”
Since that story has been published, former players, ESPN commentators, and former NFL execs have all come out condemning the Bears former coaching staff for leaving their young quarterback out to dry and not giving him tools for success.
There’s a lot to break down in this story and the reasons that people have been outraged.
At times, Caleb Williams would watch film alone
Let’s start by putting on our critical thinking hats for a second. “At times, Williams said he would watch film alone, with no instruction or guidance from the coaches.”
ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky ripped the Bears in a tweet, using all capital letters to exclaim, “NO ONE TAUGHT HIM WHAT TO WATCH TAPE WISE AND HOW TO? NO ONE WATCHED IT WITH HIM?!!?!?”
A popular account tied to the NFL, @TheHonestNFL, added that “The part about the film makes me want to throw up. I’m really hoping that isn’t true, but there’s very little evidence to make me believe otherwise.”
The phrase says “At times.” This is the key phrase to this statement.
Not all of the time.
“At times.”
The phrase is intentionally vague, not because I believe Seth Wickersham is intending to stir up a controversy but, most likely because the account that he received was as vague.
Quarterbacks are expected to break down tape on their own time, especially with the modern CBA stretching the available time to mandate such activities with coaches and players (Which was a great point brought up by Honest NFL). There is nothing out of the ordinary with a quarterback watching tape at times by himself and without instruction.
If there is an issue to be had here, it would be that the staff didn’t prepare him, or teach him to watch tape by himself. That brings up another question, though, which is was he watching tape independently while playing for Lincoln Riley at USC? Or Oklahoma? What are his normal study habits like? And, if Caleb didn’t know what he was looking for, or at, then why didn’t he ask? Did he ask? Was he rebuked?
And, we know for a fact that coaches were, at times, watching film with him because we saw it this year on HBO’s Hard Knocks. Several clips from the show depicted coaches in the film room with all of their quarterbacks watching film, and breaking down not just practice tape, but film of their upcoming opponents.
These are all of the questions that are left unanswered by the vauge description of the behind the scenes in Chicago that we were given a slight glimpse of – from the perspective of a disgruntled quarterback.
Why didn’t he want to play in Chicago?
How can I assume that Caleb Williams was disgruntled in Chicago? Because of the story that was published, and what I witnessed on Thanksgiving Day.
From the story, Wickersham details the pre-draft process from Caleb’s father, Carl Williams, who was actively trying to find a way for his son to avoid Chicago in the draft. According to Wickersham’s account, the Williams family underwent massive studies of the CBA and even consulted with lawyers in regards to what they could do.
“Chicago is where quarterbacks go to die,” Carl told Wickersham before the draft. “I don’t want my son playing for the Chicago Bears.” He also told Wickersham that the CBA is “unconsitutional,” and “the worst piece of shit I’ve ever read.”
Caleb himself told people close to him that he wasn’t sure he could play in former Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s system.
However, the way that Williams handled the playclock in the final 30 seconds of the Bears matchup with the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving really spoke volumes about his character to me.
Caleb Williams got his head coach fired
On 2nd and 10, Williams was sacked on a free rush by Za’Darius Smith, who jumped around a tired Darnell Wright and closed so quickly on Williams, he didn’t know what to do. With 30 seconds to go, and one timeout, head coach Matt Eberflus elected to not use the timeout, and give Williams a play to try and move into makeable field goal range, use his timeout with a couple of seconds to spare, and attempt a kick that would send the game into overtime.
Williams, however, got to the line of scrimmage and audibled the play. He wanted to go for the killshot, as he told reporters after the game. Not just that, he left no room for error, intentionally running the play clock down before the snap to make sure there would be no time left.
When Williams took his shot, he missed. His pass sailed harmlessly over Rome Odunze in the end zone and the losing streak continued for the Bears.
After the game, the outrage was directed to Eberflus for not using the timeout when Caleb was sacked. He explained his thought process, and then Williams explained what he did in the post-conference presser. It was at that point that I knew Eberflus was gone – not because he made the wrong decision, but because his rookie quarterback took matters into his own hands and cost them the game.
Why is the outrage always directed away from Caleb Williams?
The question that I have found myself asking is how Williams has been immune to any criticism so far in his career. Everything is always someone else’s fault. And now as he and his father have made public their attempts to avoid Chicago he’s still lacking any criticism as people side with him.
As the face of the franchise, one should desire to stay out of the spotlight, not stir up controversy. This is one of those meaningless hit pieces with no real substance, aimed mostly at particular people not involved within the organization anymore. Why put out this information, why talk to someone about it and allow them to publish it in their book? What is the agenda behind it?
The part that really bothers me is that this film story is written like it is completely out of the ordinary to have a quarterback watch film by himself sometimes. It’s not, unless you want to suck at your job. All of the great quarterbacks are in the film room at 5 or 6 AM watching tape by themselves, sometimes with ambitious teammates. It’s how it works.
As for these people creating outrage at this issue – why? What is there to be outraged and angry about? Did you miss the part about “at times?” Has our society really gone beyond critical thinking and reading skills?
Or maybe, this is the first “bombshell” story in a long offseason without live football, where fanatics have nothing else to do or talk about.
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