Caleb Williams became the first to accomplish many things last season as a Chicago Bears quarterback. He was the first to throw for over 3,900 yards. He was the first to score 30 touchdowns in a season. His seven 4th quarter comebacks were the most in a single season in franchise history. He’s the only player to ever amass 4,000 or more total yards. Last but certainly not least, he is now the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era to beat the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game. Pretty good.

All of that success brought loads of attention from the national media. Williams quickly became one of the NFL’s hottest names, spearheaded by his now-famous Iceman celebration. Anybody who knows the league will understand that it almost certainly recognized a golden marketing opportunity. That might explain a recent rumor leaked online that Williams might be the next player to appear on the cover of Madden. If so, he would be the 13th quarterback to achieve that honor.

Caleb Williams finds yet another way to enrage Packer fans.

Think about this. Since current athletes started appearing on the cover in 1999, only two NFC North quarterbacks have earned the honor. The first was Daunte Culpepper of the Minnesota Vikings in 2002, and the other was Brett Favre, who was playing for the New York Jets. Aaron Rodgers never appeared on the cover. In other words, no Packers quarterback has made the cut to be the face of Madden in the past quarter-century, despite two of them being no-doubt Hall of Famers. Now here comes Williams, getting the nod despite playing for an organization that, not too long ago, was notorious for having the most laughable quarterback track record in NFL history.

If you’re a Packers fan, it must feel like waking up to a living nightmare. Your window of elite quarterback play has closed, and now your most hated rival has found somebody who knows how to beat you. One can understand if that makes you a little irritated. Not that Caleb Williams cares. He had no say in who went on the cover. That said, he is the only Bears player to ever appear on the English version. Roberto Garza was chosen for the Latino version several years ago.

Can Williams avoid the Madden curse?

That will be a hot topic whenever the announcement is made official. Anybody who has played Madden long enough is aware of the curse. Over the years, misfortune has struck either the player or his team in the season following their appearance. Garrison Hearst broke his ankle. Barry Sanders retired. Michael Vick broke his leg. Antonio Brown got frostbite, became embroiled in tons of drama, and was eventually cut. The track record is extensive and can be more than a little unnerving.

Still, there are examples of players being unaffected by the curse at all. Larry Fitzgerald made the Pro Bowl and won a division title in Arizona. Calvin Johnson broke the NFL record for receiving yards in a single season. More recently, Patrick Mahomes won the Super Bowl. That should provide hope that Williams isn’t destined for misfortune. If he plays at the level he’s capable of, both he and the Bears will have success. It is a great accomplishment for such a young quarterback.

Tom Brady learned a lot in his long career as a superstar NFL quarterback. Most of it centered on how to play the quarterback position. He also learned how to be a leader and how to perform in high-pressure situations. He did all of that at the top level, which is why he has seven Super Bowl rings. However, that wasn’t the extent of his education about how the NFL works. Another lesson came regarding roster-building, from the most unexpected of places, too. That was the practice squad.

For those who don’t know, the practice squad is a collection of 16 players retained outside of the active roster who run the scout teams during practice. They mimic upcoming opponents from their schemes to how certain star players operate. It is an effective way to get starters prepared for games. Brady often noticed that several such players would perform really well in practice, leading him to think they needed an opportunity in actual games. Yet when they would finally get one, they’d often flounder. He explained the reasoning behind this on the Champion Mindset show sponsored by the UFC.

Tom Brady thinks most practice squad players are chasing easy paychecks.

“There’s 53 guys on the active roster and there’s now 15 guys on the practice squad. So there’s 68 players. But those practice squad players are important because if anybody on the active roster gets hurt, they can get elevated to the squad.”

“These scout team receivers would come in and practice with the scout team and they do really well. And I’d be watching. I’m like, ‘Man, we got to get that guy. Let’s get him up on offense. He’s making a lot of plays.’”

“Then all of a sudden, we’re like, ‘Hey man, you’re doing really well. You got to come over here and deal with the pressure of succeeding now that you have expectation.’”

“And these guys are like, they weren’t prepared for it. So whatever we saw in practice against where there was not a lot of pressure, now when they’re put in a situation where there’s an expectation for performance, they’ve never had to personally deal with that and then they fail.”

“And then what I realized was a lot of guys on those practice squads, they don’t want to be elevated to the roster.”

“They’re very happy living this life where they could tell their family and friends, which I have no problem with that. But the reality is a lot of guys don’t want the pressure of dealing with (the) top.”

Brady’s assessment proves the Chicago Bears correct.

Head coach Ben Johnson pretty much took over how the team would build the roster from the moment he arrived. Unsurprisingly, he made some changes to what priorities scouts would have regarding the types of players he wanted. At the top of the list was speed. He wanted guys at every position who could move well. However, another trait alongside that was competitiveness. Johnson wanted guys who lived, breathed, and dreamed football 24/7/365. Anything less was unacceptable.

“We’re looking for high-level competitors. Guys who, if you took football away, they’d really not know what to do with themselves.”

It appears the Bears head coach probably reached many of the same conclusions Tom Brady did. Practice squad players aren’t much use to your team as legitimate depth if most of them secretly don’t ever want to get promoted. That changes if you stack the group with highly competitive kids. Those are the type who go out of their way to work hard in practice, even to the point of showing up the starters. That is because they want it to be known that they will fight for an opportunity whenever it comes.

Brady would’ve been that way.

One of his more famous stories came in his second training camp with the New England Patriots. He was running their scout team and ended up using eye manipulation and fakes against the starting defense. It both impressed and annoyed them. While Brady was never on the practice squad, it is fairly certain he would’ve approached scout team responsibilities with the same opportunistic mindset. He might be the low man on the totem pole, but it won’t stay that way forever if he has any say in it.

The Bears have made it their mission to find as many guys like that as possible. Most of them will never achieve great success in the NFL, but that isn’t the point. The goal is finding a handful of guys who can turn a practice squad spot into an eventual starting opportunity. People talk about star power when describing championship teams. In truth, it’s those who build great depth that often cross the finish line. The practice squad is an enormous part of that equation.

Caleb Williams is many things. He’s an absurdly talented young quarterback, steadily emerging as one of the best at his position in the NFL. He is also a savvy businessman, already involved in a diverse portfolio of sponsorships and ownership well before most professional athletes even start thinking about such things. Last but certainly not least, he is an outspoken presence online, unafraid to get involved on social media more than most players at his position. Yet one thing that gets somewhat glossed over through all of that.

Loyalty.

One thing that has become pretty evident about Williams is his willingness never to forget where he came from. His presence has been felt at USC even after leaving the program for the NFL. He’s been spotted at games supporting his former teammates and has attended practices. So it wasn’t a big surprise that the Bears quarterback popped up at the Trojans’ pro day last month in advance of the draft. What wasn’t known at the time was that Williams almost did something unprecedented.

He almost threw passes during the event, which NFL quarterbacks don’t do. The latest episode of 1920 Football Drive documented how Chicago Bears scout Francis St. Paul had to step in to make sure he didn’t.

Caleb Williams certainly would’ve drawn attention.

It would’ve been the first documented instance of an NFL quarterback throwing at a college pro day. So why did St. Paul stop him? Part of it was to avoid such publicity. However, it mostly had to do with not taking the spotlight away from the guys actually on the team. He wanted the USC quarterbacks to do the throwing themselves. That day was about them. Williams had his moment two years ago. This had to be their opportunity to get noticed by pro teams.

Kudos to St. Paul for doing that. Some scouts might not have the willingness to put their foot down like that with one of your team’s star players. It speaks to his experience and Caleb Williams’ personality that he did so without fear of retribution. It was the right decision. That day was about the players trying to make the NFL, not those already in it. Mind you, Williams wouldn’t have done it for the attention. He just wanted to help. It was more about leaving the work to the kids still chasing the dream.

The Bears placated Williams in the end.

They did so by adding two players to the roster via undrafted free agency. One was wide receiver Kyron Hudson, and the other was right tackle Mason Murphy. That doesn’t include Miller Moss, the Louisville quarterback who was Caleb Williams’ backup at USC. Adding them was meant to bring in some bodies for training camp, but it’s hard not to read between the lines. The Bears want to make sure they keep their quarterback happy. Keeping a pipeline open to his alma mater is an easy way to do that.

Either way, it’s hard not to chuckle at the story. Williams was more than ready to loosen up and throw at the event, no questions asked. That speaks to both his love for USC and his competitive nature. Somewhere beneath the surface was that compulsive need to remind everybody that he’s still the BMOC (big man on campus). It is why you can’t help but love the guy. He seems more than ready to get back to work, preparing for another push to win the Super Bowl.