Caleb Williams arrived in Chicago like a beam of sunlight through endless overcast. The Bears franchise has been starved for a superstar quarterback since the end of the 1940s. Many have tried to assume that mantle: Bill Wade, Jim McMahon, Jay Cutler, and Justin Fields. None of them were able to reach that elusive tier. All the while, fans were forced to watch their bitter enemies up north in Green Bay enjoy a golden age that included Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and now possibly Jordan Love. Could this kid from USC finally break the cycle?
That is the hope. Hard Knocks put everything in perspective, comparing the quarterback’s arrival in Chicago to that of Michael Jordan in 1984. He revived the Bulls franchise, eventually carrying it to greatness with his unparalleled athletic feats and never-say-die competitiveness. Understandably, people were quick to pump the breaks on such a comparison. However, a recent interview between Albert Breer of the MMQB and Williams shows the quarterback might be more like His Airness than people realize.
“The other part, and this feeds into knowing myself, is all athletes try to act like they don’t see it. I see it, and I use it,” Williams says. “I take screenshots of people. People don’t know it. I have notes and things that I screenshot. I save the links, all of that. I use it.”
“There’s always something,” he continues. “LeBron [James] always says, and has said before, he only needs one thing. He walks into the stadium, all he needs is one fan, one thing through the week or before the game. Some of it is motivation and some of it is psyching yourself out. That’s the other part. It’s knowing myself. It’s knowing what I like to know, how I like to do things. I know how hard I work. I know the confidence that I have, from my work that I’ve put in for many, many years now.”
Most athletes do what you’d expect. They try to block out the noise. Everything is about focusing on their job. Ignore the taunts and the criticisms. Williams is different. He’s among a unique class that seems to feed off the negative energy. The more hate you throw at him, the more motivated he becomes to prove you wrong. Such a player is perfectly suited to play in a big city like Chicago, where you know the fans aren’t going to hold back their opinions whenever things go wrong.
It is impossible to know how far Caleb Williams will go in the NFL. The odds of reaching Jordan’s status are astronomically low. He is the unquestioned king of Chicago sports history, and it’s not really close. That said, the quarterback has the right mindset. He understands that he will never make everybody happy. His goal is greatness, just like Jordan’s was. That comes with shouldering the burden of expectations and using the criticism as fuel for the fire. The hotter it burns, the better he’ll play.
