Caleb Williams has always been a lightning rod for controversy. This goes back to his time in college when he became one of the first players to paint his nails and also cried with his mom after a tough loss to Utah. Almost immediately, the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of the NFL began questioning the quarterback’s toughness. So you can imagine they were out in force after seeing Williams’ emotional reaction to his hamstring injury in the loss to Minnesota on Sunday. Chief among them was Dave Portnoy.
If you don’t know the name, you certainly know the company he represents. Portnoy founded Barstool Sports, which has become one of the most popular platforms in the sports media sphere over the past decade. While a great success story, Portnoy has developed a somewhat controversial reputation with his opinions. Williams is one of his favorite targets, both as a player and a person. You can bet he had something to say about that injury reaction.
Certainly on brand for him—just one problem. Constantly running your mouth like that can have consequences. Bears fan @jack_bfr on Twitter (X) was waiting for this opportunity. He delivered one of the all-time great receipts in social media history, tagging Portnoy with an example of Rob Gronkowski, who played for his hometown Patriots, having an equally emotional reaction to an injury that turned out to be minor. Not to mention Portnoy’s doomy response to it.
Dave Portnoy has always been a picture of hypocrisy.
He will fire off takes on players from other teams he doesn’t like, but has no problem defending players on his team who do the same stuff. Where was all this criticism for Drake Maye when he stunk up the playoffs and folded in the Super Bowl? The man is insufferable. Just because he built an unlikely media empire based around sports doesn’t automatically make him an expert. He is a fan just like everybody else. He just has a bigger platform to launch his ignorant opinions from.
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Seeing him get suplexed like that is a glorious moment of catharsis. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Why people continue to give him camera time on anything Chicago-sports-related is baffling.
Not that Williams cares much.
What Dave Portnoy says has little to no influence on the quarterback’s plans or actions. The only thing it does is add fuel to his fire. Williams is on social media all the time. He sees all the videos like the one Portnoy was in. You can bet he filed that away to use as motivation. Don’t forget the Bears play the Patriots later this season. One can imagine beating them would certainly ruin Portnoy’s weekend. Regardless, the objective moving forward was to determine the extent of the damage.
Initial projections indicate Williams will likely miss this upcoming week’s game on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. That means Tyson Bagent will start in his place. If the hamstring is a grade 1 strain, he should have a reasonable chance to get back for the next game against the New York Jets. At the latest, it’s hard to imagine him missing the big grudge match in Green Bay against the Packers. Given what we know about Williams, he may push to play next week. Much depends on the severity of the pain and the risk of aggravating the injury.
Smart money says the Bears will hold him out for a week before reassessing at the start of October.
