FIRST TAKE | “Chicago’s new era is HERE!” – Stephen A. on Caleb Williams rewriting Bears history

own last second comeback win Monday night up against a team that derailed their season with a Hail Mary a year ago. Williams found a way, threw for a touchdown, ran for another to win his third straight game. The Bears, they have now uh three straight wins since starting the season 0 and two while scoring at least 20 in each of those games. So far this season, Caleb has increased his passing yards per game, his attempts, yards per attempt, and is taking less sacks compared to last season. So, Mad Dog, I asked, “Are you all in on the Caleb Williams era in Chicago?” I am not. And great job for Troy Aman on Monday night because Troy wasn’t into it either. You can tell just by listening to his commentary. And if Ben Johnson, who’s done a hell of a job, and Caleb Williams are going to sit there and tweet about Troy Aman. Time out. Well, Ben Johnson didn’t tweet anything player. I thought Ben Johnson didn’t like what Aman had to say. He addressed it in the conference. This is Troy Aman. I mean, this is one of the great quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League with three with three Super Bowls where he played great in all three games. If he wants to have a comment on Caleb Williams, he’s allowed to have a comment on Caleb Williams. Deal with it. Me, you want to kill me, go ahead. What do I know? Because I don’t love Caleb Williams either. He creates his own chaos in some of these games. 26% inaccuracy rate. ESPN made sure they gave you that percentage when they said his throws at times can be inaccurate. He fumbled that snap which cost him an opportunity to win the game late in the third quarter, early fourth quarter. He’s just I don’t know. He’s he he’s he’s he he’s so erratic at times in the course of the game. You know, at times he can be great and then at other times you say, “Geez, what are you doing?” I mean, and let’s be honest, this is this let’s be fair right now. And the Bears have a history of doing a horrific job with quarterbacks. Dustin Fields, Kane Mcnown, Trabiscy. I mean, this is nothing new. If you’re right now, if you’re the Bears and you want to analyze this, would you rather have Jaden Daniels who is picked two or Williams? I don’t know. What do you think? Daniels, you got to an NFC champion. What about Drake May? There’s the next one I was just going to mention. You want Drake May or you want Caleb Williams? It’s a little early yet for Drake May, but are the early returns? Give me Drake May. I take him right now over Caleb Williams. So, to me, despite their record, good win. Daniels fumbled. That’s the reason they won the game. But overall, I am nervous about him if I’m a Bear fan going forward. Big picture. Stephen A. Uh, a couple of things. Well, I disagree with Doggy, but but before I disagree with Doggy, let me say this. Um, I’ve been at ESPN since 2003, with the exception of the 2-year hiatus from 2009 to 2011. One of the proudest moments I believe we should have is when we acquired Joe Buck and Troy Aman to do Monday Night Football. You’re talking about the A team and you’re talking about a guy in Troy Aman who is a three-time Super Bowl champion, smart as a whip, incredible integrity, and anybody in the world of football who has a problem with him talking about a quarterback should really really check themselves. There is you could have people just as qualified because there are some who are. There’s nobody more qualified than Troy Aman to be talking about the quarterback position in the National Football League. So, everybody just need to stand down. Let’s get that out the way first. Now, let me get to the point about Doggy on Caleb Williams. Doggy, I get where you’re coming from, but I respectfully disagree with you, and I’m going to tell you why. Over his last 12 starts, do you know that Caleb Williams has thrown 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions? Do you realize that Caleb Williams is on his third head coach into this season, game 18 of his professional career, doggy on his third head coach and his fourth offensive coordinator. Who’s had to deal with that? Tell me a quarterback in NFL history that’s had to deal with three different head coaches and four different offensive coordinators inside of 18 games. That was Caleb Williams. Also, we have to take into account that Drake May actually helps the argument to believe in a Caleb Williams. Here’s why. When, no disrespect, but when Bill Bich departed and Robert Craft decided to give the job to Gerard Mayo, didn’t work out, did it? Now you got Mike Vrael there. And just like that, look at Drake May. We weren’t saying this about Drake May last year, but we’re saying this about him now. Why, doggy? Because you know as well as I do, particularly when it comes to the National Football League, coaching matters. It really, really does. It’s not just about X and O’s. It’s also about development. It’s about culture. And it’s about making sure that that culture is something that augments and elevates your quarterback as opposed to compromising their level of production. That is what Mike Vrabel has done in New England in a short stint there already only six games in. We got to give credit where credit is due. Right now, Mike Vrael is a candidate for coach of the year because of how New England has looked. Now, we get back to Caleb Williams. Jayden Daniels hasn’t had to deal with that. Even Drake May hasn’t had to deal with that. So, look at what Caleb Williams has had to deal with. And look at him from the first two games to the last three games. Look at all of those things and then let’s look at Ben Johnson because now we gonna have to pay attention to giving Kevin Warren the CEO and and and and Ryan Pace and and and and Ben Johnson all of these guys credit for bringing in Ben Johnson. So Ben Johnson is there calling plays. He’s the head coach. Look at how he’s resonating. Look at him on a headset. Look at him holding his coaching staff accountable and players accountable. The kind of thing Doggy loves. That’s why I’m bringing it up because Mad Dog Russo with the degenerate gambling tendencies that he has picks up on all of this stuff. It ain’t just about what’s going on in the field. It’s about what’s going on on the sideline. What your mentality is like, where your focus lies, what’s what what what are you doing, what you’re supposed to be doing. This is Mad Dog Russo. He pays attention to all of this stuff. Watch Ben Johnson right here. Watch the job that he’s doing. Look at the players rally around him. Look at the accountability he attaches to them. Chicago has something going on. And then when we take into account Chicago’s history, hey doggy, Jim McMahon wasn’t the star of the Chicago Bears. I mean, we saw him doing, you know, doing the video, the hustling crew and all of that stuff. But this dude was this this is the 80s. This was no Dan Fouts. This was no Dan Marino. This was nobody like that. This was this wasn’t those guys. this that defense and sweetness. Walter Payton and the refrigerator, you know what I’m saying? That you know, refrigerator Perry, those were the dudes. Jim McMahon was a good quarterback, but come on now. And ever since then, the best that you have had to offer was Jay Cutler, okay? In Chicago, cats like that. Caleb Williams, look at his arm strength. Look at his ability to make those throws. Look at his ability to scramble, to move. Look at his NFL body. I believe in Caleb Williams. I don’t He’s not there yet, but he has tremendous potential. And now that he’s got a a coach like Ben Johnson, I think sky’s the limit. I would also argue this to Stephen A’s point. I don’t know if there was a single player and this includes Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and all the rest that we talk about who had more pressure and eyeballs on them coming into this season considering a they spent big bucks on bringing in the offensive guru Ben Johnson. But then in the draft getting Colston Loveland getting Luther Burden, they also have all those other weapons that they have and Roma Dunay a former top 10 pick. Everyone was looking for Caleb Williams to fail here and here we are. They’re three and two. He’s won three straight games. I don’t know what else he could have done. doggy. I I But he was terrible week one against He was not terrible in that game. Oh, he wasn’t good. They had this game. They had that game and then they lost in the end and McCarthy had a great time at the end. He didn’t play well in that game. Doug Doug when trailing when when trailing or tied. When trailing or tied this season, Caleb Williams is completing 64% of his passes, six touchdowns, just one interception with a passer rating of 103.6. We’re talking about this brother like throw him out with the bathwater, but you got people speculating, can Chicago make noise in the NFC North. What you say? You look at Green Bay and how they gave up 40 to Dallas, right? You look at Detroit, how they just lost to KC, right? You look at Minnesota, no JJ McCarthy, Carson Wentz ain’t the answer, and JJ was a rookie and what’s he going to do when he gets back, right? Chicago is right there. And I think that they’re on a comeup. I I I like Kayla Williams. I’m not saying he’s there yet. I know that he has vast ways to go. I listen to Troy Aman. You understand what I’m saying? I get it.

FIRST TAKE | “Chicago’s new era is HERE!” – Stephen A. on Caleb Williams rewriting Bears history

30 comments

  5. Aikman played behind one of the all time great offensive lines in the history of the game and had one of the greatest running backs of all time lined up behind him. He played during a time where the league was a running league, but Aikman's career high in passing touchdowns 23. He did not have the athleticism and overall talent that Williams has. Williams will blow pass those 23 touchdowns this year and is already on pace for over 4,000 yards. He's only in his second year. Give this guy a chance. Come on now.

  6. Troy is a horrible announcer. Maybe he needs to learn from Romo or Brady or the Mannings on how to call a game. He literally took the script from the network saying he needed to bring Caleb down a peg or 2

  7. Its not even the fact that aikman was criticizing caleb williams it was the fact that he was criticizing caleb williams while glazing jaydan daniels having biased opinions instead of an unbiased opinion he wasn't being fair with his assessment an people want to talk about well he won 3 super bowls I will argue he troy aikman is probably the most overrated qb of all time who was his running back He had one of the best running backs of all times an one of the best wide receiver's all time with a great offensive line which they referred to the great wall of Dallas he had emit Smith that offensive line an michael erving on top of that what was his completion percentage his first 2 years he had a completion percentage of 52 an 56 with an average completion percentage of 55 yes he has won super bowls yes he knows alot about the qb position but at the same time if your Going to criticize one qb for making mistakes you have to criticize the other for doing the same thing instead of glazing him

  13. ESPN always has some DISNEY related @$s agenda to publicly trash certain athletes, teams, and organizations. They've always been this way. Always expect stupidity from the mouth of at least one of their talking heads… BOXING IS CERTAINLY THE WORST! Their commentary is usually one sided… They also own Top Rank promotion. This is how they operate.

  15. So cause Troy sees Caleb a different way than tom that makes him bias or a hater or whatever you casuals wanna come up with in that little head of yours. It’s ridiculous you guys actually think Caleb played good you all a bunch of fools and will find out soon. He was crying the whole game cause they couldn’t move the ball. Until swift bailed him out on that touchdown, and on the play before that he threw it right into double which is what Troy was talking about. And y’all mad cause he pointed out how he shouldn’t have thrown into double coverage. All he did was his job and that’s tell the people watching what he did wrong and that’s what bothers y’all so much and call someone bitter over it no he actually won at the highest level and wasn’t some spoiled brat that got everything handed to him on a silver platter like Caleb’s Career is gone. So if you gonna try to compare the 2 you better know what you actually fucking talking about cause all of you defending Caleb right now look like a bunch of clueless dick riders.

  20. I was on multiple Bears boards and they all were trashing him until late in the 4th quarter. What changed in the 4th? Ben Johnson called a bunch of great screen passes that went for big gains and then Caleb threw the 5yd pass to Swift that he took to the house on his own. Caleb's numbers were terrible until the screen passes and the Swift play that he did nothing on. Even on the final drive, it was mostly all handoffs to Swift and now people act like he's great and they are all riding for him after they themselves were ripping him way more than Aikman… Lol

  30. Who led their team to victory by not turning over the ball and pushing their team down the field to win the game, and who was the one who threw a bad pick and fumbled the ball losing the game for their team? Which one would you rather have???

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