After all the craziness of the past year, Chicago Bears fans have no doubt completely forgotten Alan Williams. The long-time assistant coach was hired as the defensive coordinator in 2022 to work under Matt Eberflus. Things didn’t go well. The defense struggled a lot that first year. Things didn’t look much better to start 2023. Then all of a sudden, Williams vanished. He was there one week and fell off the grid. Mere weeks into the season, the defensive coordinator abruptly resigned from his position, forcing Eberflus to take over play-calling duties.

Speculation ran wild about what happened. Rumors swirled that Williams got into some personal trouble involving his computer at Halas Hall, forcing an internal investigation. Whatever it was turned out bad enough that he had to go. Williams chose to step down rather than suffer the humiliation of getting fired. After that, the story faded away. Well, now we may know what happened. Tyler Dunne of Go Long provided new details on the situation. It seems Williams got in really deep with an unnamed woman, who turned out to be far seedier than he expected.

A bad mistake on his part put the team at risk.

First, there was the peculiar case of Alan Williams. Fellow coaches noticed the team’s defensive coordinator acting strange during staff meetings on Sept. 12 of that season. He didn’t want to go home. The next day, Bears security searched his office. On Sept. 15, it was reported that Williams would not travel to the team’s game in Tampa Bay due to personal reasons. On Sept. 17, the Bears played the Buccaneers.

One day felt like a year as the Bears — waiting and waiting and waiting — inexplicably fueled curiosity into the mystery themselves. What did Williams do exactly?

One person involved with the fallout told us the Bears determined Williams, inside his office, engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior on his phone with a woman. “Between meetings. After practice. Before practice. All the time,” this source adds. The woman, we’re told, then tried to extort him — the Bears logo was in the background of one photo sent. This triggered an investigation and prolonged the situation. Internally, those involved with the crisis management found it strange that neither GM Ryan Poles or head coach Matt Eberflus were in charge of punishment. Final jurisdiction rested in the hands of Kevin Warren and, for whatever reason, the team president opted to slow-play the PR nightmare. Warren stressed the need to talk to the coach.

Alan Williams broke a cardinal rule.

You keep your business and personal lives separate. By involving his affair on team property, he opened them up to serious litigation and pubic embarrassment. The fact that he wasn’t aware of the danger he put himself in despite decades in the NFL tells you how bad it was. You never like to see somebody lose their job for something like that. Then again, the saying remains true.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Alan Williams has only himself to blame for what happened. The story no doubt made it across the rest of the NFL, which explains why he hasn’t found work since leaving. Teams don’t want anything to do with someone so irresponsible. It doesn’t help that the last memory of him was his defense getting trampled every week. Such a crazy story.

For the past three years, the Detroit Lions have been the envy of teams everywhere. Their offense is a well-oiled machine, racking up points in spurts. A big part of that is the impressive collection of talent they’ve assembled. Jared Goff distributed the ball to a bevy of playmakers behind one of the NFL’s best offensive lines. However, many felt the true source of their success came from the man on the headset. Ben Johnson came out of nowhere as an offensive coordinator. He was a non-decript position coach for years. However, Detroit gave him an opportunity, and he transformed it into the best offense in franchise history.

Everybody knew Johnson would leave eventually. Such coaches are always in high demand. Still, when the news broke that he’d accepted the head coaching job in Chicago, Lions fans were optimistic. They felt his replacement would still have plenty to work with. The offense would be fine. Fast forward to opening day, and those feelings might’ve been misplaced. The Green Bay Packers 27-13 humbled Detroit at Lambeau Field. The score wasn’t even that close, as the Lions didn’t score their touchdown until the game was out of hand.

The alarming part of the loss wasn’t just the scoreboard. It was the mental errors and the constant losing at the line of scrimmage. Goff was sacked four times, and the rushing attack managed just 46 yards.

Losing Ben Johnson may have hurt even more than expected.

Keep this in mind. His offense in Detroit scored 15 points or less in a game four times across three seasons. This is the same group that routinely put up three or more touchdowns every time they faced the Packers in previous years. The only thing that changed was the coaching. Now maybe it was a fluke. Perhaps the new scheme needs time to shake out. That can happen. Still, many of the issues present in that loss never happened under Ben Johnson. They didn’t do the little things right. Details were missed. Small mistakes led to bigger ones. These were all things he harped on constantly with a competitive obsession. With that benefit gone, it is hard not to wonder if Detroit’s window for a title closed.

(1) Not sure I understand the outrage over Jalen Carter spitting on Dak. When you draft Jalen Carter, that’s what you get. Many great players, especially in the NFL, have been terrible human beings. Andy Reid, Howie Roseman, Bill Parcells? Don’t care. Do you?

(2) I took some hits on Twitter for suggesting this weeks ago but I think the AFC West has caught the Chiefs. That doesn’t mean they can’t win division or win Super Bowl. It means their days of coasting through regular seasons are officially at an end.

(3) First third-and-11 for the Jets and they hand the ball off. Aaron Glenn is going to play 1961 football with this club. Can it work? (It looked pretty good!)

(4) The Dolphins were a team no one had a good thing to say about this summer. Seems…appropriate.

(5) Cleveland made the wrong choice at kicker this summer.

(6) Summer hype teams that had their balloon’s burst: NY Giants, Carolina Panthers.

(7) Two lightning delays in one week? Has that happened in the NFL before? (And there were technically THREE!)

(8) Nobody schemes more wide open receivers than Matt Lafleur. Every drive, two or three Packers seem to be running with five yards of space.

(9) Starting Russell Wilson never made any sense for the Giants. They did it anyway. And won’t be criticized for it.

(10) Won’t make national news but Brock Purdy’s stat line would look very different if the Seattle secondary had better ball awareness. Some shocking stuff from them. They gave away ten plus points.

(11) Why is the NFL wasting all of this energy on the kickoffs? Just kick the damn ball off. Nobody had a problem with the kickoff for decades BESIDES the NFL!

(12) Love, love, love the video technology used to determine first down near end of Tennessee v Denver.

Final Thoughts on Bears/Vikings: Would love the Bears if Jaylon Johnson were healthy, but he’s not. Bears win a close one, 26-23.

Ryan Poles signed a contract extension last month, lining his deal up with head coach Ben Johnson. Many took it as a clear indication that the Chicago Bears were satisfied with his work. In reality, new details trickling out of Halas Hall suggest this move was less about the quality of work and more about stability. Some inside the building believe head coach Ben Johnson is now calling the shots. He has final say on personnel decisions, while Poles plays more of a supporting role, doing the legwork while Johnson focuses on coaching during the season.

One would think Poles is safe for the time being. However, there are indications that his seat is hardly cooled off. Tyler Dunne of Go Long released his third and final part of an in-depth exposé on the Bears’ GM and quarterback Caleb Williams. In it, he mentions that somebody else in the front office is gaining a stronger voice. That is senior director of player personnel Jeff King. Some see him as the corrective force in the personnel department, the actual right-hand man to Poles and perhaps, under the right circumstances, his heir apparent.

Sources inside the building believe Johnson is already pulling the personnel strings and are encouraged by King’s growing voice…

…King’s growing influence in the front office is also a good sign. He’s been steadily rising up the ranks in the Bears front office since 2015 — has seen grave mistakes up close — and draws high marks around the league.

Ryan Poles should absolutely be nervous about King.

While there is no reason to suspect the personnel director is trying to squeeze the GM out, it’s worth noting that people have gravitated to him inside the building. He’s providing results. King was the man primarily responsible for bringing Tyson Bagent to Chicago. The young quarterback is hugely popular with everyone there. King also played a central part in key free agent additions like T.J. Edwards, Andrew Billings, DeMarcus Walker, and Kevin Byard.

There is also the most important factor people forgot: King and Johnson are friends.

They’ve known each other since both were quarterbacks in the ACC years ago. They stayed in touch, and King was said to be instrumental in selling the Bears’ job to Johnson. That familiarity can’t be discounted. Ryan Poles is under a lot of pressure to win. He built most of this roster. If things go badly enough, Johnson may push for a change, and King is the obvious candidate to ascend.

The common saying goes that the primary goal for every NFL team in the summer is getting to week one healthy. Since the beginning of training camp, it never felt like the Chicago Bears were quite there. Jaylon Johnson missed every practice dealing with a groin injury. Shemar Turner bowed out early with an ankle problem. Now, T.J. Edwards is doubtful for the opener with a hamstring injury. Still, it felt as if the Bears had a good idea of what their lineup would look like.

Not anymore.

Just 24 hours before kickoff, the team was hit with more bad news. Their crucial nickel cornerback, Kyler Gordon, appeared on Saturday’s injury report with a hamstring problem. He is questionable for the game. Usually, when injuries pop up late like this, it isn’t a good sign that they will play. Throughout his career, Gordon has been dealing with hamstring issues, including last month. There is now a realistic chance the Bears will be down three of their best defenders against one of the best offenses in the league.

The Chicago Bears will need others to step up.

Gordon’s absence likely means Josh Blackwell could see action in his spot, presuming he’s healthy enough to go. Blackwell has battled a groin issue. Veteran Nahshon Wright likely gets the nod to fill in for Johnson if he can’t go. As for Edwards, the belief is rookie Ruben Hyppolite will get snaps at outside linebacker alongside Tremaine Edmunds and Noah Sewell. Needless to say, there is a lot of uncertainty in the field for the Chicago Bears. One can’t forget they also don’t have Austin Booker, who is on IR with a knee injury. It feels unfair to ask such a patchwork unit to slow down Minnesota and all its firepower. Yet that is the cold reality of the NFL. Injuries happen. Overcome them or don’t.

Dennis Allen was not the first name that came to mind when the topic of the next Chicago Bears defensive coordinator was raised. However, people realized it might be a savvy move once it came up. While his tenures as a head coach in the NFL were mostly disappointing, he had a far better track record as a defensive coordinator. His work in the second half of 2011 was crucial to the Denver Broncos’ making the playoffs. Then in New Orleans, he transformed one of the NFL’s worst-ever units into one of the best.

What stood out was his exotic, creative style, characterized by aggressiveness and nasty ways to confuse quarterbacks. Most people thought this meant he was another in the ilk of blitz-happy coaches like Brian Flores or Greg Williams. While this has been true in the past, there is a misconception that it’s Allen’s true identity. Adam Jahns of CHGO spoke to veteran safety Kevin Byard about it. The former All-Pro clarified what Allen is really all about, which makes far more sense.

“I think just as a defense it’s not really more about what he’s going to call,” Byard said. “It’s about how we execute, how we play those calls.”

That’s one of Allen’s messages. He said the same thing earlier in camp. It’s a positive sign that his players are repeating him.

“As a defense you want to be basically how Dennis Allen is: aggressive, physical,” Byard said. “No matter if he’s calling zone or if he’s calling blitz, we’re going to make sure that we’re as (defensive backs) up in receivers’ faces, disrupting the timing of the passing game.”

Dennis Allen hasn’t been defined by elite defensive fronts.

Sure, having them is important to success. Yet the truth is his defense has often been at its best when the secondary is loaded. In Denver, he had Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins, two future Hall of Famers. Later, in New Orleans, he had Marshon Lattimore, Malcom Jenkins, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Marcus Williams. Tyrann Mathieu joined the group as well. His defense is a nightmare when you have quality bodies on the back end. The good news is the Bears seem well-equipped for that. Jaylon Johnson is a star. Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon are both promising young players. Kevin Byard is a perfect, savvy veteran. Even Tyrique Stevenson is capable of streaks of good play. Dennis Allen has enough pieces to make things interesting this year.

The Chicago Bears announced they were giving GM Ryan Poles a contract extension last month. It was a significant left turn from how things started in January, when some felt he might get fired after a 15-36 record in his first three years. Still, the logic was easy to see. It appeared he’d develop a good relationship with head coach Ben Johnson. The Bears wanted to ensure both men were lined up on the contract front. On the surface, it appeared as if the power structure the organization had always operated with was back in place.

That assumption might be a mistake.

Over the past few months, whispers have surfaced that something is different about the Bears. They haven’t operated in the same way as in previous years, and the players they acquired didn’t fit the usual mold Poles seemed to prefer. This led to speculation that there had been a shift in the power dynamic behind the scenes. Apparently, people inside Halas Hall can sense it, too. Poles might not be calling the shots anymore. Tyler Dunne of Go Long provided some confirmation.

Sources inside the building believe Johnson is already pulling the personnel strings and are encouraged by King’s growing voice. Chicago drafted Loveland 10th overall despite Poles signing another tight end (Cole Kmet) a four-year, $50 million deal. Years past, scouts do not believe the Bears would’ve ever touched a prospect with such glaring character concerns as Luther Burden. Let alone 39th overall.

Ryan Poles has only himself to blame for this.

Everything can be traced back to his decisions over the past three years. It started with hiring Matt Eberflus as head coach in 2022 after refusing to do a more in-depth search upon arrival. Then it was various missteps over the next couple of years: the Chase Claypool trade, signing Nate Davis, passing on C.J. Stroud, and retaining Eberflus despite obvious plans to draft a new quarterback last year. Those blunders led him to make a tough decision. Either he loses his job or sacrifices some of his power to bring in the best possible head coach. He chose the latter.

Now, it appears Ben Johnson is the first head coach in over 30 years to have majority personnel power in the organization. The last was Dave Wannstedt in 1993. It only lasted a year before he was stripped of it. After that, GMs always had primary control of the roster. Not anymore. In a desperate attempt to stop this franchise’s endless tailspin for 20 years, the Bears gave the best coaching candidate in years the keys. Ryan Poles let it happen.

As has been the case before, Tyler Dunne of Go Long turned the world of Chicago Bears fans upside down. He first did it with his scathing report of how the team handled the careers of Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields before drafting Caleb Williams. Now his latest entry calls them out again, this time for a supposedly bad process that saw them ignore Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels leading up to the 2024 draft. Then it targeted Williams for being lazy, disrespectful, and having a learning disorder that went unreported. It came across saying the quarterback is a lost cause. One person who didn’t care for that is Kyle Long.

The former Pro Bowl guard knows something about being dismissed in the draft process because of perceived mental issues. He was considered immature, unpredictable, and incredibly raw. Yet he became the Bears’ best offensive lineman they’ve drafted in the past 20 years. This idea that these anonymous scouts and coaches believe he’s unsalvageable because he can’t learn or is too stubborn to work hard is a joke. The Bears don’t deserve scorn for having conviction on Williams. At least they believe in the guy.

Kyle Long believes the Bears now have the missing piece.

Few players can thrive in the NFL without the guidance of good coaching. It is the same for every position, be it offensive line or quarterback. Kyle Long was fortunate to have a really good offensive line coach when he arrived in Chicago. That helped him morph into a star. The Bears didn’t have that when Williams arrived last year. It was a defensive head coach whose seat was already hot, and an offensive coordinator who wasn’t liked or respected at his previous job. That changed this year with the arrival of Ben Johnson, fresh off a glittering stint in Detroit, where he revived the career of Jared Goff.

This staff is far better equipped to determine whether Williams can hack it in the NFL or not. Everybody in the building has said the quarterback is putting in extra time every day. He’s serious about everything. Could it be lip service to avoid a controversy? Sure. Then again, Johnson isn’t known for such tactics. He’s a straight shooter. If he says Williams is doing the work, then take him at his word.

George Halas was a Hall of Fame head coach for a reason. He was one of the great innovators of his time, embracing new ideas as they came for much of his decades-long tenure. However, one thing always lost in the shuffle about the all-time great was his personality. Hidden beneath that Papa Bear veneer was the soul of a bully. He didn’t just relish beating you on the scoreboard; he wanted to beat you up, too. Hurting bodies and feelings was entirely the point. Since retiring, most Bears head coaches never took things quite to that extent. Mike Ditka did to a degree. Nobody else has come close since. Enter Ben Johnson.

At first glance, you’d think the new Bears head coach is in the same vein as guys like Sean McVay: young, bright, energetic, intelligent, and confident. Johnson is all those things, but it has become clear to people inside Halas Hall that he has a dark side. Like anybody else, Johnson wants to win. He’s obsessed with it. What separates him from other coaches is how he wants to do so. It isn’t just about the scoreboard. It is about sending a message. He wants to crush people, stamp them with his boot, and scrape them off on the curb. When writing an in-depth piece on the coach, Dan Wiederer of The Athletic got that vibe.

Some wonder if Johnson might’ve been a serial killer if not for football.

The fuel for that blaze — a competitive inferno, really — is Johnson’s intentional, almost perverse desire to attack opponents. Quickly, continually and without mercy.

For a coach so often lauded for showcasing the intelligence and problem-solving skills of Sherlock Holmes, Johnson also has a much more savage side to him. Think Anton Chigurh from “No Country for Old Men.”

So, yes, the naturally affable Williams had to quickly understand that Johnson needed him to sharpen his own competitive edge.

“Sportsmanship,” Williams told reporters that day, “is for the end of the game — when you shake hands and are respectful in those ways. But when you’re on the football field? You want the other teams to feel as if you’ve embarrassed them.”

For Johnson, those comments served as an early moment of pride. Message delivered. And message received. Embarrassment is indeed a goal.

Ben Johnson is Heath Ledger’s Joker.

What is that famous meme from The Dark Knight? “It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message.” The paraphrase for Ben Johnson would be it’s not just about winning. It’s about sending a message. Winning alone is not enough. He wants the rest of the NFL to know that they shall receive no mercy from the Bears. The days of pushing this team around are over. If you want to win, you’ll have to crawl over broken and beaten bodies to get it, starting with Johnson’s. He has instilled that mentality in players for months, even using UFC footage to get them in the right frame of mind. The response has been infectious. It finally looks like the Bears have somebody in charge with a killer instinct.

You ever read something, and it hits you — not because it’s sharp, but because it’s sloppy? That’s the Tyler Dunne article. Blasting Caleb Williams as some spoiled, insubordinate, rookie meltdown sounds sexy — until you peel back the layers. Let’s go claim-by-claim, give the kid a fair shake, and see who’s really at fault. Spoiler: Unless you believe rookie QBs should be flawless, you’re gonna see who really failed here — and it wasn’t just Caleb.

Before we even dive into the individual claims, let’s be clear: this story isn’t just about what Caleb Williams did or didn’t do. It’s about the full picture Tyler Dunne chose not to paint — the timing of the article, the tone, the sourcing, and the glaring omission of systemic dysfunction around the Bears organization. Dunne’s piece makes big accusations but offers little accountability for the crumbling infrastructure around the rookie QB. So let’s tackle this piece step-by-step — not just to defend Caleb, but to expose the full context missing from Dunne’s one-sided narrative.

Claim 1: “Williams regularly walked away from coaches… disrespected, insubordinate”

Dunne’s Spin: Williams turned his back on coaches during instruction. The big moment? December 26, 2024, when interim HC Thomas Brown allegedly screamed, “Get your ass back here right now!” over the headset.

Counter Reality: The Bears were exploding midseason: firing Matt Eberflus, bench-shuffling the offense, internal chaos all around. The offensive playbook was a disaster under Shane Waldron, players were calling out coaches publicly, and the locker room was leaking like a sieve. When you ask a 22-year-old rookie to walk into that mess and act like a 10-year vet, you’re setting him up to fail. Defensive posture in that environment isn’t arrogance — it’s survival instinct. That reported December 26 incident? Williams not only apologized, but multiple insiders later confirmed he was reacting to inconsistent sideline communication and conflicting instructions from a fractured coaching staff.

Let’s not forget: Thomas Brown, the guy allegedly screaming at Williams, was an interim coach trying to hold together a house of cards. And now? Under Ben Johnson’s clear, no-BS leadership, not a single whisper of attitude issues or sideline drama. The same player, different structure — and suddenly everything clicks. If Williams was the problem, those patterns would follow him. They haven’t. The problem wasn’t Caleb — it was the circus around him, the kind that eats promising QBs alive if left unchecked.

Claim 2: “William’s fundamentals were… sloppy — huddle calls, forgot motions, wristband confusion”

Dunne’s Spin: “It’s like the wristband’s in a foreign language,” says someone—or, you know, a fired coach frustrated it wasn’t working.

Counter Reality: Rookie QBs struggle. Every damn year. Josh Allen couldn’t even break 60% completion rate out of the gate. Peyton Manning led the league in interceptions his rookie year. Trevor Lawrence’s first year was a mess under Urban Meyer. This is a brutal league for young quarterbacks, especially when they’re parachuted into organizations with more dysfunction than direction.

Let’s add some context here: Caleb Williams had to digest Shane Waldron’s convoluted playbook while being coached by a staff on its last legs. According to multiple reports from in-house media and even beat reporters, Waldron’s offense was not only poorly implemented, it lacked cohesion week to week. That instability trickled down into the quarterback room. Yet despite this, Williams still managed to throw for 3,541 yards — 5th all-time for a Bears QB — and added a 20:6 TD to INT ratio. That’s not just solid for a rookie, that’s impressive given the context.

And let’s be honest about this wristband drama. Tons of rookies have used a damn wristband. It’s NFL standard when you’re adjusting from a spread-heavy college offense to a full-blown pro-style scheme. Patrick Mahomes wore one early. Lamar Jackson relied on one deep into his second year. If anything, Williams showing up and grinding through the process despite a busted infrastructure is a credit to his adaptability, not a black mark on his fundamentals.

Claim 3: “Poor work ethic, didn’t pay attention, skipped film and weight rooms”

Dunne’s Spin: Williams was quiet in meetings, on the wrong page, and skipping film sessions.

Counter Reality: The kid’s private QB coach, Will Hewlett, has known him since 7th grade. He’s been working with elite-level talent for over a decade and says Caleb is among the most committed athletes he’s coached. Hewlett has emphasized that Williams doesn’t just watch film — he breaks it down like a coach. He’s known for logging extra hours, doing walkthroughs on his own time, and even asking Hewlett to simulate opposing defenses during the offseason so he can prep his reads in real time. That’s not laziness — that’s obsessive competitiveness.

Williams has also said in multiple interviews, including with The Athletic and Bleacher Report, that he prefers to do independent study because he absorbs information better when he’s not being spoon-fed. That doesn’t mean he’s disengaged; it means he’s wired differently. In fact, this learning style mirrors guys like Aaron Rodgers and Justin Herbert, who are both known for deep, self-directed preparation.

During his time at USC, coaches often cited his hunger to understand every layer of the game, from protections to receiver reads to defensive coverages. Lincoln Riley said Williams “sees the game like a coach” and “wants answers to everything.” That same mentality has carried into the NFL. Players like DJ Moore and Cole Kmet have publicly praised his leadership and attention to detail in film study. Even strength and conditioning coaches have noted that Williams rarely misses lifts and often sticks around afterward to throw routes or work on footwork.

So this whole “slacker” claim? It’s not just a misread — it’s straight fiction propped up by anonymous sources with questionable motives. Every shred of verifiable evidence says Williams is exactly the kind of QB who lives in the film room and thrives in structure. The issue was never his effort — it was the dysfunctional setup around him.

Claim 4: “Demanded Bears change snap count to ‘Ready, set, go!’—like JV”

Dunne’s Spin: Williams insisted on a watered-down cadence.

Counter Reality: Coaching adaptation, not diva demands. Simplifying cadence is rookie-friendly and widely used to reduce mental load. Coaches across the league routinely modify cadence, verbiage, and play structure to ease the transition for rookie quarterbacks adjusting from college ball. Joe Burrow, Justin Fields, and even C.J. Stroud had their systems tailored in Year 1 — nobody called it special treatment.

Shane Waldron and the Bears offensive staff weren’t reinventing the wheel by simplifying things. They were doing what any competent staff would do — trying to set up a struggling unit for success. Multiple insiders from the team confirmed the decision to move toward “Ready, set, go!” cadence came from the coaching staff in collaboration with the QB room, not some rookie demand meeting gone wild. Even Matt Hasselbeck has publicly said simplified cadences are often a net positive when a quarterback is dealing with overload from poor protection and excessive reads.

Besides, we’re talking about a quarterback who got sacked 68 times behind one of the most porous offensive lines in football. Streamlining his cadence to improve communication and speed things up isn’t a concession — it’s smart strategy. If a veteran asked for the same, it would’ve been praised as leadership. The fact it came from a rookie doesn’t change its legitimacy.

This whole accusation sounds less like an indictment of Williams and more like bitterness from coaches whose scheme fell apart. Simplifying cadence doesn’t mean a player is soft — it means the coaches are adjusting to help their player succeed. That’s literally what coaching is supposed to be.

Claim 5: “Wrong verbal call half the time… players all over the field”

Dunne’s Spin: “The kid was wrong half the time” calling plays, according to sources.

Counter Reality: You’re telling me that this team had a QB who was supposedly wrong half of the time on play calls, yet he still broke Bears rookie records? That doesn’t pass the sniff test — it’s flat-out unbelievable. To me that claim is not just sloppy — it’s catastrophic, and it would be evident in every offensive snap. There’s no hiding that level of dysfunction. If Williams was truly miscalling half the plays, you’d see busted protections, blown alignments, illegal formations, and procedural penalties every other drive. The tape doesn’t show that. In fact, the Bears’ pre-snap efficiency actually improved as the season went on, particularly in no-huddle and two-minute drills.

By season’s close, Williams was executing like a grown-ass leader — running tempo, managing clock, and getting the offense lined up with command. His two-minute numbers were among the most efficient for rookie QBs in 2024, and Bears insiders credited his ability to process under pressure as a key reason why the offense started to stabilize. ESPN’s advanced metrics ranked him in the top half of the league in fourth-quarter passer rating — something that wouldn’t be remotely possible if he were butchering half the huddle calls.

What this sounds like is classic damage control from coaches who failed to teach a system effectively and needed a scapegoat when the offense cratered. The reality is, there’s no credible evidence Williams was that inaccurate with play calls — because if he was, the team would’ve imploded long before January.

Claim 6: “Williams has dyslexia, hidden from coaches, GM knew”

Dunne’s Spin: Sources suggest Poles knew of Williams’ dyslexia pre-draft but withheld it from the coaching staff until late.

Counter Reality: If that’s true, I’m finding it hard to believe that Dyslexia had a negative impact on last season. To start off, it doesn’t have to block greatness — but it can show a testament to his mental endurance. Just look at players like Rashan Gary, Frank Gore, and Mark Schlereth, who not only thrived in the NFL but credited their learning differences with giving them a unique edge in processing and preparation. We have seen Williams manage an NFL playbook, weekly installs, and post-snap reads and he has not demonstrated being a liability if under these circumstances — it’s impressive.

Let’s not forget, dyslexia isn’t a cognitive deficiency — it’s a difference in processing, and often a signal of heightened visual-spatial awareness and creativity, traits that actually benefit quarterbacks. Coaches from USC noted how Williams often preferred to see plays drawn out or walked through instead of just read from the board — classic visual learner behavior. That doesn’t make him less intelligent, it means he needs a system tailored to how his brain works — and good coaching does exactly that.

More importantly, Ben Johnson’s staff has reportedly adjusted their install meetings, shifting toward more hands-on and scenario-based learning formats, and the results have been obvious. Williams has flourished under Johnson’s simplified terminology, clean play designs, and visual learning integrations — an approach that mirrors how teams successfully coached guys like Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Borland, both of whom have dealt with similar learning differences.

If anything, the fact that Williams potentially dealt with dyslexia and still processed high-level schemes while being sacked nearly 70 times proves his capacity to adapt under fire. The narrative should be one of resilience, not ridicule. The NFL’s future belongs to teams that adapt to how players learn — not the ones stuck judging intelligence by how someone reads off of a whiteboard.

Claim 7: “He was telling veteran receivers how to run routes before taking reps himself”

Dunne’s Spin: Williams was apparently instructing veterans on route timing — like he’s the guy.

Counter Reality: Real quarterbacks communicate. If he’s in there talking timing to veteran receivers, that’s leadership, not arrogance. Quarterbacks are expected to be the hub of offensive communication, and the best ones — rookies or not — take initiative early. Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson were known for taking over huddles early in their careers, directing veterans, and getting everyone on the same page. It wasn’t arrogance — it was ownership.

This isn’t some guy barking orders for ego’s sake. By all accounts, Williams was asking questions, clarifying timing, and ensuring routes were synced with what he was seeing in the film room. That’s how chemistry gets built in the NFL, and it’s especially important for rookies who are trying to compress years of experience into a few months. You don’t build timing without talking. Coaches at USC praised his habit of pulling receivers aside for route discussions, and Bears receivers like DJ Moore and Rome Odunze have both publicly stated they appreciate Williams’ attention to detail and communication in practices.

Leadership isn’t about waiting until you’re a ten-year vet to speak up. It’s about earning trust through prep, communication, and results. Williams stepping up to talk through routes is evidence of command — not entitlement. And veterans who take issue with that? Maybe they’re not the leaders they think they are.

Claim 8: “The Bears dumbed down the offense to suit his “demands””

Dunne’s Spin: Playbook trimmed, huddle minimized, to fit Williams’ robin‑egg needs.

Counter Reality: The offense wasn’t dumbed down for one person — it was shredded for everyone. Shane Waldron’s system was falling apart before Caleb even stepped into the huddle. Multiple Bears players voiced their frustration with the overly complicated scheme that didn’t fit their personnel or play style. Execution was poor, communication was worse, and Waldron was ultimately fired midseason because his offense failed to do the most basic thing: score points.

Simplifying an offensive system isn’t some patronizing move to accommodate a rookie’s feelings — it’s Coaching 101 when your unit is underperforming. Go watch film from other rookie QB seasons —Justin Herbert, C.J. Stroud, even Trevor Lawrence — all had their systems trimmed and clarified to build confidence and speed up development. It’s what smart coaches do.

And let’s not act like the change didn’t yield results. As soon as the offense was simplified, tempo improved, protection calls became clearer, and Williams was able to play faster and more instinctively. That’s not coddling — that’s removing self-inflicted obstacles. Ben Johnson’s success with Williams in OTAs and preseason only reinforces this: with a coherent scheme and clear verbiage, he is thriving. The issue wasn’t the depth of the playbook — it was the lack of clarity and alignment from the coaching staff. Simplification wasn’t surrender — it was salvation.

The Stuff Dunne Didn’t Touch — But Should’ve

Let’s zoom out a minute. Even beyond Dunne’s shaky claims, there’s a mountain of context he conveniently skips. First: those 32 anonymous sources? They’re almost entirely presumably fired coaches, personnel guys, and front-office leftovers trying to save face. It reads like an ex-employee group chat got dumped into an article. Credibility here is suspect — not because anonymous sourcing is bad journalism, but because it’s obvious the motives are murky.

And second, let’s stop pretending Caleb didn’t perform. He set the Bears’ rookie total yardage record, protected the football (only 6 INTs on 500+ attempts), and did it all while getting sacked a league-leading 68 times. That’s not dysfunction — that’s production in the face of chaos.

The broader picture here is one of institutional failure. Chicago has butchered quarterback development for over a decade. Fields, Trubisky, Cutler — it’s a graveyard. That doesn’t magically become Caleb’s fault. If anything, his early production and improvement under a functional coach like Ben Johnson proves the opposite: we have the right pick, the culture around him just needed a reset.

So when Dunne paints a portrait of a QB who can’t lead, won’t work, and doesn’t get it — he’s not revealing hard truths. He’s recycling bitterness. Williams isn’t just surviving a broken culture — he’s the first guy in years who might finally break it.

Final Verdict

Let’s call this what it is: a fire-breathing narrative cooked up by displaced staff, backed by anonymous sources, meant to deflect blame — and sell clicks. It’s not investigative journalism — it’s defensive venting.

Do I think Tyler Dunne has a history of being a good journalist? Sure, that’s fair. But I do have issues with this Bears article. The timing is odd — dropping days before the season kicks off — and words like “sashayed” and “glitzy gazelle” aren’t just cringeworthy, they border on coded language that undermines the tone of serious reporting. It’s not quoted, not sourced, and it reads more like editorial flair than factual journalism. That kind of language muddies credibility and risks crossing into unnecessary character-shading with homophobic undertones.

Were Dunne’s sources reliable? Sure — maybe in the sense that they exist. But were they biased? There’s no doubt about that. I’m not saying Dunne’s process was flawed, but when the bulk of your quotes more than likely come from fired staffers with every reason to cover their own asses, maybe don’t treat it as gospel.

The real Caleb Williams? A Heisman champ, a competitive leader, a rookie overwhelmed by a rotten organizational culture — and who, when put in a stable system, has already started demonstrating real growth.

Dunne’s portrayal? A mismatch between a rookie’s coping behavior and professional breakdown. When you strip away the rage-laden quotes and look at performance, talent, and recent progression — Caleb Williams isn’t the sole problem. Football is a complex game full of variables that tie into success or failure. Coaching, culture, protection, play-calling — it all matters. To fully pin the disaster that was last year on a 22-year-old kid feels very… odd. The problem was more nuanced— and Williams might be the one they’ll still be thankful for down the road.