Caleb Williams not only wants to go to the Bears, he expects to go No. 1
Caleb Williams changed his profile picture on his Instagram earlier this month. The photo was of a young Williams wearing a T-shirt with a bear on it.
"No, it was not intentional," the USC quarterback said Friday, chuckling. "I didn't see the bear on the front. But it was kind of funny when I saw the reports on that."
There was talk that Williams might pull an Eli Manning or John Elway and demand that the Bears not draft him with the No. 1 overall pick, but Williams refuted that in an interview with Pete Thamel of ESPN on Wednesday. Williams told Thamel he would be "excited" to play for the Bears.
Williams reiterated that Friday.
"A lot of things are coming out right now," Williams said. "Y'all rarely see me speak. Ever. As you all know, I don't really go out and speak much, but this was important to me that I wanted to put something out before I came here especially with all the noise and things like that that have been brewing and things like that before I came here. And now since I've been here a bunch of stuff comes out. Just wanted to put something out so everyone knew exactly where it was coming from."
Williams not only wants to be drafted by the Bears; he expects to be.
"It's not a thought in my mind," Williams said of not being drafted No. 1 overall. "I don't think I'm not going to be No. 1. I put in all the hard work. All of the time, effort, energy into being that. I don't think of a Plan B. That's kind of how I do things in my life. I don't think of a Plan B. Stay on Plan A and then when things don't work out find a way to make Plan A work."
Williams isn't worried about the Bears' poor track record with quarterbacks. Mitchell Trubisky made the Pro Bowl in 2018 in his second season with the Bears after being the No. 2 overall pick, and Jim McMahon in 1985 is the team's only other quarterback to earn Pro Bowl honors in the modern era.
Sid Luckman, whose last season was 1950, was the team's last franchise quarterback.
"No. Not at all," Williams said of being scared off by the Bears' history with quarterbacks. "I don’t compare myself to the other guys that’s there or been there. I’m my own player and I tend to like to create history and rewrite history.”
Williams has met with coach Matt Eberflus, General Manager Ryan Poles and other Bears' coaches and team officials. They spent the 15 or so minutes picking his brain.
He said he needs them to answer only one question: "Just do you want to win. That is it."
There still is no guarantee the Bears will use the first pick on a quarterback, while moving on from Justin Fields. But Williams wants to play for them. Do the Bears want to replace Fields with Williams?
