Caleb Williams stood in front of a Bears team meeting, rattled off his signing bonus — $25.5 million — and engaged in a time-honored rookie tradition: singing. The Bears rookie quarterback, though, couldn’t make it through one line of John Legend’s “Ordinary People” before stumbling and being harassed by his teammates.
Theo Benedet’s performance couldn’t have been different. The Canadian undrafted rookie listed his signing bonus — $20,000 — before taking off his shirt and attempting, poorly, to sign “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. It was a tribute to American hospitality, the offensive tackle said before tearing away his sweatpants to reveal a bald eagle Speedo.
“I’m not going down there,” coach Matt Eberflus said, “until he gets dressed.”
The first episode of “Hard Knocks,” Max’s documentary series, set the tone for its five-episode run Tuesday night. It captured moments both silly and serious — from Eberflus hosting a season-opening pool party to receiver DJ Moore leaving a walk-through to sign his contract extension last week.
When Williams mentions in a quarterback meeting that he didn’t grow up a baseball player, the Bears developed a way for him to practice sliding at the end of scrambles. The team laid out a Slip ‘N Slide for Williams and the other quarterbacks, turned on the hose and let them practice.
“Last day of camp, we should bring that back out,” Williams said afterward. “Any hot day.”
“Hard Knocks” focused on Williams, and rightly so, as the future of the franchise. The opening scene showed Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles calling the quarterback on draft night to say they picked him.
“We’re going to turn this (quarterback) cycle on its head,” Eberflus said.
The episode featured Alabama coach Nick Saban visiting Eberflus two weeks ago — “You gotta be somebody that somebody can emulate,” the college legend told him — and Eberflus visiting the team barber, who used a size 3 clipper to tighten up his beard. Eberflus’ wife Kelly revealed part of the inspiration behind the coach’s offseason makeover: actor Ryan Reynolds’ look.
The show also followed safety Jonathan Owens to Paris to watch wife Simone Biles, the legendary gymnast.
And then there was Benedet, who did the splits while blocking on an extra point try in Thursday night’s Hall of Fame game. He strained his right hamstring, sidelining him for at least the next four weeks.
