Caleb Williams clears the air about his situation with the Bears: “I wanted to be here. I love being here”

Caleb Williams appeared to have the whole world at his feet when he was selected by the Chicago Bears in April 2024 as the No. 1 Draft pick.

Considered one of the quarterbacks with the most projection in the land, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner was named as the Bears’ starting QB for the 2024/25 campaign and duly signed a four-year rookie contract, worth $39.4 million.

Caleb Williams figures in his debut season with the Bears

He started every game of the regular season and finished with a clutch of franchise rookie records. Williams posted 20 passing touchdowns, 3,541 passing yards, six interceptions, and a 62.5% completion percentage. But for all his efforts, the Bears ended bottom of the NFC North with an unconvincing 5-12 record.

Overall, the season was deflating. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was shown the door in Week 11 and head job Matt Eberflus shortly after. Williams meanwhile struggled to handle the pressure. “This is my first time of being a part of something like this, of losing...” he offered, after the Bears went 10 games without a win.

And amid all of that was criticism about his time management and general lack of urgency and determination. Then there were rumors that Williams was unhappy in Chicago. In a new book, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, due to be released in September, Seth Wickersham made a bombshell claim that Williams’ father Carl was dead against him joining the Bears and cooked up ways of trying to avoid being drafted by the franchise.

Caleb Williams: “I wasn’t ready to nuke Chicago”

“I don’t think it was that close, but it was one of those things that was definitely pondered,” Wickersham explains. “It has been out in the ether, in the months leading up to the Draft. Carl has been very clear publicly about his opinions of the NFL Draft process and the fact that the worst team drafts the best player, and he was looking for ways around it. Because he saw a system where his son was locked into the team that drafted him, like all No.1 picks are, for basically eight years.

“At one point they even considered joining the United Football League, if it would give him a chance to be an unrestricted free agent in 2025,” Wickersham adds. “Around the time of Caleb’s Pro Day, Ryan Poles, the GM of the Bears’ said, ‘We’re drafting you no matter what’. That left one option - the Jack and John Elway option of basically nuking a city and making a situation untenable, While I think Carl would have been willing to do it, and take bullets, it wasn’t that something Caleb wanted to do. As he told me: 'I wasn’t ready to nuke Chicago‘“.

After excerpts of the book were published last week, Caleb wanted to address the issue and make his commitment to the Bears clear to all. In fact it was the first subject he touched on when he faced the media.

“First, I’ll start off with what everybody would love to ask about, is this whole storm that happened," the 23-year-old told a news conference. “It wasn’t something that we wanted to happen at this point. We’re focused on the present, we’re focused on now. We’re focused on trying to get this ship moving in the right direction. I think, so far, that’s what we’ve been doing. But, for this to come out, it’s been a distraction, so coming up here and talking about it and addressing it is important today.

“All that went down, all that was said. I had a good visit at the other place, Minnesota, with [head coach] Kevin O’Connell, good staff and all of that,” he continued. “But, something that keeps getting lost, something that keeps getting, I think, not being addressed the way it needs to be, is the fact that I went on that visit first, then came here, and then after I came here, I went back home, talked to my dad, and all of the things that were supposed to be these big things that everybody’s been talking about recently - one, it never happened, in the sense of they were all thoughts, they were all ideas.

“I think if you’re in the situation, I think if your son or daughter... anybody, is in the situation to be in that position, I think you think about all of the options. You look at it, the history and the facts and all these different things, and those are thoughts that go throughout your head in those situations.

“After I came on my visit here, it was a deliberate and determined answer that I had - that I wanted to come here. It just hasn’t been spoken about,” Caleb added. “Being able to have those thoughts, is I think fair. To be able to have good and band thoughts. I wanted to come here and be the guy and be a part and be a reason why the Chicago Bears turn this thing around. That last thing that was said in all of that I think is the most important thing is that I wanted to be here. I love being here.”

Caleb Williams on talking things through with his parents

Williams also answered a question about a quote attributed to his father, who allegedly said: “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die”

“Actually, I shut my dad down quite a bit,” Caleb replied. “He has ideas and he’s a smart man and so I listen, I always listen. I’m very fortunate to be in this position in the sense of playing quarterback but also very fortunate to have a very strong-minded father. We talk very often, my mom and my dad are my best friends, so being able to have conversations with them to understand that everything they say is also portrayed on me.

“He cares so much about me and my future, and we have been along this journey so long together, all he wants is the best for me. So, if anything happens and he’s super hotheaded and it’s more of like ‘All right, go ahead and go away. Go reset.’ Things like that. Love him to death and things like that, super fortunate to have him. We have talked about it. Understanding that there’s a right place and a right time and there are times that there is not.”

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