Bear Digest

More Contrived Criticism of Caleb Williams Draws a Response

Analysis: Greg McElroy comments apparently got under Caleb Williams' skin when the proper response would have been to ignore him, like most people do.

Gene Chamberlain

Another day, another criticism of Caleb Williams and this time he responds when he really didn't need to do it.
Another day, another criticism of Caleb Williams and this time he responds when he really didn't need to do it. / Jessica Alcheh-USA TODAY Sports
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Maybe it was the network's reputation or possibly the dead period occurring at this point as 30 visits wind down and the draft is yet to come.

Whatever, something prompted potential Bears quarterback Caleb Williams to respond to criticism from ESPN commentator Greg McElroy.

In case the name doesn't strike a chord, McElroy threw 31 NFL passes for the New York Jets in the 2012 season as a draft pick selected in the last round in 2011. His NFL career ended after the 31 passes.

He had a college career at Alabama when he was 436 of 658 for 5,691 yards and 39 TDs, all passes coming in 2009-10 except for 20 in his first two years.

"Caleb Williams, from the time he stepped on campus at Oklahoma and the time he's stepped on campus at USC, has never experienced adversity," McElroy said on ESPN. "Even when they went 7-5 this year, it wasn't because of Caleb. He did his part.

"I do wonder, is there a sense of entitlement, is there that chip on the shoulder that's going to keep him going 10 (or) 12 years down the road the way it does (Patrick) Mahomes, who's still pissed that he got drafted 10th. He's still mad, to this day, about that."

If the only standard is Patrick Mahomes or you are a spoiled QB, sure there's a case to be made. That's cutting a pretty wide swath.

It must be pointed out that the only "hardship" Mahomes had to overcome was being behind Davis Webb at Texas Tech and then taking over the starting job, as Webb left and went to California. Mahomes played for a poor or mediocre team, just like Williams did last year. Williams elevated his. Mahomes did it too, a little bit.

Then there was being drafted 10th instead of first overall for Mahomes.

They're not going to hold a pity party for Mahomes over the hardship of being taken 10th instead of first. If there is hardship involved with that, it's in his mind only. Boo hoo, poor Mahomes, only taken 10th and now he's in one out of every 10 commercials on every television network.

He landed with a team prepared to let a QB learn for a year before taking over at starter, which is a real luxury for any NFL rookie QB. He also landed with a team known for being able to pass the ball and with an aging starting quarterback who was obviously going to be leaving in free agency soon.

It was ready-made for him.

So how much real adversity has Mahomes actually faced?

"Peyton Manning still pissed he never won the Heisman trophy," said McElroy. "I think the chip on the shoulder aspect is something I value more in recent years and I'm just not 100% sure Caleb Williams has that."

If it's true Williams doesn't have those situations, guess what? He just got one. He's going to try to succeed to stick it to people like McElroy and the idiots who slammed him for painting his fingernails or having a pink phone.

Actual hardship isn't a perceived situation. A chip on the shoulder isn't a hardship. It's a mental hangup.

If that's what McElroy thinks is hardship, there's no reason to think Williams lacks the imagination to invent some the same way. But with people like McElroy firing off made-up criticisms, Williams really doesn't need to conjure any sources of inspiriation. He can just look at ESPN.

Williams actually responded to this McElroy slight on Twitter with a comment even though comments of this type really don't require it. After all, he didn't respond to what Merrill Hoge had said and that was far more damning. The same was true with what Dan Orlovsky said.

"Let's go back to school again 'cause I'm bored rn..

" 'Adversity: A state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.'

"Y1. Didn't start freshman year.

Y2. Popped hammy in championship game 1st Q. Lost bc of my hammy.

Y3. 7-5 my last year of college ball."

It's not as if Williams overcame cancer but 7-5 after they were 6-0 his final year is a pretty adverse situation. He was playing behind a porous offensive line and with receivers not quite as good as the previous year and somehow got them to 6-0 before the clock struck 12.

Mahomes played for bad teams in college too. He just never had to play for one in the NFL and neither has Williams.

Both had difficulty getting on the college field initally because of entrenched starters, but did it.

Injuries are things that happen to everyone in football. They've both had hamstrings and other scrapes and cuts.

Williams actually comes out with a fairly comparable situation to Mahomes when you look at it Actually, he was able to lift a poor team to 7-5 his final year while Mahomes' Tech teams were 7-6 and 5-7. He didn't win the Heisman while losing in the conference title game. Mahomes' team was 4-8 in a partial first year.

As a freshman, Williams was able to take away Spencer Rattler's starting job and then lead the Sooners in a 10-2 season. That's as a freshman in college. That's pretty heady stuff for a kid just a few months removed from his prom. That's a pretty adverse situation and he won out. In that case, it looks like he actually handled adversity better than Mahomes.

So not to belabor the point but it was McElroy who made the comparison to Mahomes, and those situations don't look entirely dissimilar coming out of college and, in fact, Williams might have faced even more hardship than the Chiefs QB but he raised himself and his team.

The big difference is the Bears now will take Williams No. 1 while the Bears back in 2017 were stupid enough to take Mitchell Trubisky No. 2, after trading up, instead of taking Mahomes.

It's what happens after they get into the NFL that defines them.

When Payton Manning threw 28 interceptions to only 26 touchdown passes as a rookie, it's unlikely the fact he wasn't the Heisman winner mattered much to him. Maybe years later when he had beat the Bears in the Super Bowl, it still irked him but by then he had plenty of other driving factors.

Mahomes definitely addressed any perceived chips on his shoulder with his career. We saw it at Soldier Field when he was making hand signals about being taken 10th, in a rather classless move at that.

Williams will get the chance to do the same thing in the pros.

Considering how he did in the past when facing the adversity conveniently left out by McElroy in his criticism, it wouldn't be surprising to see Williams as a smashing NFL success.

The only problem with all of this is he responded at all, because no one would have really known or cared what McElroy said until the tweet by the potential Bears QB.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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