For months, it’s been widely assumed throughout the NFL world that the Chicago Bears would be selecting USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams as the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. But still, it doesn’t sound like Williams is all that familiar with the Bears for one pretty brutal reason – they’ve been bad throughout his entire life.
During a press conference after he was officially selected by Chicago, Caleb Williams admitted the brutal truth that he had some hesitations about the idea of playing for the Chicago Bears early in the pre-draft process given that he only met with the team for a short time and the franchise has not won a lot of games in his lifetime.
“When you only meet with somebody for 10 minutes and the history — like I haven’t known much about the Bears,” Williams said according to Josh Schrock of NBC Sports Chicago. “The history since I’ve been alive hasn’t been necessarily where they are winning big games and Super Bowls and things like that.”
Those are some brutally honest words from Williams, but he’s not wrong. The Bears have not been a dominant franchise in his memory. But he does think the team has the infrastructure and the people to change that. And it sounds like he’s happy to be a part of it.
“What they told me was that you know, they haven’t always put people in the right position, and that’s their fault,” Williams added. “The plan is to change that around. As y’all have seen, the new stadium. As y’all have seen, the coaches that they have brought here, the executive staffs, things like that. Bringing people like that from winning cultures and winning places that want to win, and as a holistic family of the Bears but also stadium, team, coaches, executive staff. Everybody wanting to win and change the culture.”
Williams said that he is joining the team with an “open mindset.” We’ll have to see how it all works out for him.