Caleb responds to claims he wanted to avoid Bears: 'I love being here'
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams spoke candidly Wednesday about the distraction stemming from the book "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," which includes Caleb's father, Carl, revealing that his son didn't want to play for Chicago.
"I love being here, I love my teammates," Williams said, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN.
The book, which was written by ESPN's Seth Wickersham, made public that the Williams family tried finding ways for Caleb to avoid being drafted No. 1 overall by the Bears in 2024 due to concerns about the franchise. The book states that the promising quarterback told his father he needed to play for Kevin O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings, as Williams had concerns about the Bears' offense, then coordinated by Shane Waldron.
"This whole storm that happened, it wasn't something that we wanted to happen at this point. We're focused on the present, we're focused on now," Williams explained. " ... But for this to come out, it's been a distraction, so coming up here and addressing it is important.
"All that went down, all that was said, I had a good visit at the other place, Minnesota. ... But something that keeps getting lost, something that keeps not being addressed the way it needs to be is the fact that I went on that visit first, came here (to Chicago), and after I came here, I went back home, talked to my dad, and all the things that were supposed to be these big things that everybody has been talking about recently. One, never happened. They were all thoughts. They were all ideas."
Williams said he loved his predraft meeting with the Bears.
"After I came for my visit here, it was a deliberate and determined answer that I had that I wanted to come here," he said.
The Bears have indeed struggled to find consistency at quarterback. They are the only NFL team that has never had a QB throw for 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns in a season.
However, Williams - who had a challenging rookie year - explained that Chicago's struggles weren't an issue for him. He said they actually served as motivation.
"It's a challenge to be able to come in here and try to turn it around, and that was the main goal," Williams said Tuesday. " ... I want to come here and be the guy, and be a part, and be a reason why the Chicago Bears turn this thing around."
Williams finished Year 1 with a 62.5% completion rate to go along with 3,541 yards and 20 touchdowns against six interceptions. He was sacked an NFL-high 68 times and saw the Bears fire head coach Matt Eberflus midway through the season. Chicago hired former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as his replacement.
Wickersham's book also states that Williams sometimes wouldn't receive instructions on what film to watch during his rookie campaign.
"That was a funny one that came out. It wasn't that I didn't know how to watch film. It was more or less ... learning ways to watch film and be more efficient. Learning ways to pick up things better," Williams added, according to Bears on CHSN.