It didn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize Caleb Williams was a driven young man when the Chicago Bears drafted him #1 overall. The fact he had “8 Super Bowls” on his phone lock screen as his primary goal should’ve told people that. Tom Brady is the white whale he’s chasing. There is no other mountain to climb. If he’s not aiming to become the best ever to play quarterback, there is no reason to be in the NFL. One thing Williams understands already about this pursuit? It is going to be hard. Really hard.
He’s not naive to this reality. Brady himself said as much when the two spoke earlier this off-season. If you want to be great, expect to make sacrifices. The hardest part for Williams is understanding that mindset. To that end, he decided to seek input from somebody who’s rubbed shoulders with the greatest of all time. Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune discovered that Williams sought out a meeting with Tim Grover, the renowned personal trainer of Chicago Bulls icon Michael Jordan.
I met with Tim over dinner here (in the Chicago area) just trying to figure out “What the hell did MJ do? How did he win? How did he become so dominant?”
During that time, he helped transform the athletic scoring machine into arguably the most well-rounded superstar the game has ever seen. That success didn’t come from Jordan’s physical gifts. It came from his relentless mentality to better himself.
Obviously with MJ, it’s his mental (strength) of not turning off. Basically it goes back to that competitive stamina thing. It’s about not turning off. And then, you know, there’s a point where Tim said that MJ didn’t like certain things (within himself). It’s also kind of what Kobe did after his first year. There were certain things he didn’t like with what he was doing. He wasn’t strong enough, he wasn’t fast enough, he didn’t know the game well enough. And so it honestly came down to putting in the work.
It came down to having that competitive energy about himself to feel like he wasn’t good enough at the time and he was going to get better. And he wanted to get better. He wanted to be the best. So he worked at it, kept going, and obviously he ended up getting six rings out of it. He did all right.
Most athletes who reach the pro level either don’t understand the level of commitment it takes to be great or aren’t willing to give it. The level of obsession and sacrifice required is unfathomable to ordinary people. Very few athletes ever learn this lesson, and most that do are often too old to take full advantage by the time it happens. The fact Williams is learning it from multiple people before his NFL career has even begun is an excellent sign for his future. He learned it from Brady and is now learning it from one of Jordan’s greatest confidants.
Grover understands the reality. He even wrote a bestseller on the subject. Its title says it all: “Winning: The Unforgiving Race To Greatness.” One quote stands out from its pages, reinforcing the advice he gave Caleb Williams during their meeting.
“Winners don’t fear reality, they don’t hide from the truth, and they’re not afraid to confront their own flaws and weaknesses.”
Talent. Intelligence. Competitiveness. Resilience. Those are the four words Grover mentions as critical to greatness. We already know Williams has talent, intelligence, and competitiveness. It will be that last one which will determine how far he goes in the NFL.
