Stories Of How Bears Botched Caleb Williams Last Year Just Got Worse

By now, most Chicago Bears fans have heard and reacted to the story from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, who detailed Caleb Williams’ tense draft process from last year. It stemmed from his reservations about the organization and its history of failure at quarterback. His father, Carl Williams, had zero faith in head coach Matt Eberflus and his staff’s ability to develop Caleb properly. That is why he examined every conceivable angle to keep his son away from Chicago. Ultimately, Caleb chose not to go that route, accepting the challenge of playing for the Bears.

Sadly, those premonitions came true. Eberflus hung the rookie out to dry. Their plan for him was laughable in every sense. Nothing sums it up better than the story of how coaches never once watched film with Williams, leaving him to do that alone. It was an appalling case of negligence. Yet that isn’t even the worst part. The worst part is that this has happened before—multiple times. Doug Farrar of Athlon Sports spoke to Wickersham, who revealed the same problems befell previous #1 overall picks Alex Smith and Jared Goff.

Technically, Orlovsky was signed as the Rams’ third quarterback through training camp, but that was not his job. His job was to teach Goff how to watch tape from the ground up. Because in 2016, it was clear that former offensive coordinator Rob Boras and his staff had not done that… at all…

…Smith’s inaugural NFL season was even worse than Goff’s, and one of the primary reasons was the same.

Nobody in the 49ers organization that year gave Smith the required guidance to know what he was doing when he watched tape.

Caleb Williams serves as confirmation of a timeless lesson.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. It wasn’t even ancient history, either. Smith and Goff had both played in the past 20 years. This was the modern NFL. Eberflus passed himself off as a lover of football history. One would think he’d have at least a passing knowledge of what happened with previous #1 picks who were mismanaged. Nope. He barrelled ahead with whatever half-baked plan he came up with, trusting Shane Waldron knew what he was doing rather than staying on top of the details. That colossal misjudgment will be written on his NFL tombstone.

The one silver lining in all of this is that the Bears didn’t let the problem fester. They fired Eberflus before the season even ended, then hired a highly qualified replacement. Ben Johnson is an offensive wizard who understands the work it takes to play quarterback at a top level. His obsessive attention to detail is what Caleb Williams needs. One only wishes it didn’t take a disaster of a season to reach this point.