House of Dysfunction: The Curious Case of Caleb Williams

[JR44]

For me, I'm rooting against him because he's the QB of a divisional foe. That's like being a Jordan Love or Goff fan. Why? He's just a kid and he's somebody's son, but from a Viking's fan perspective, I'm not inclined to root for him to succeed as QB of the Chicago Bears. There's 100s of good kids around the NFL I'm not rooting for, lol. The rest of why some people might be rooting against him doesn't really concern me....and doesn't concern Caleb either.

I totally get that and as a Viking fan I am rooting against him from a competition standpoint.  And to clarify, when I say people who are rooting against him, I do not mean those who are for the reason you mention here, but for the ones who it is more obviously personal.  

As a big Michigan fan and having more of a familiarity with JJM than most of us, there would probably be a part of you rooting for him even if went to a rival and not the Vikes.  And that is why I am so passionate for defending Williams.  I live in LA, am a USC fan, have known people in the program there and watched every snap of his there. He was one of the top college football players I have ever seen from my perspective. Also think he is a great kid personally as well, very misunderstood and so it really bothers me when I see him getting criticized and knowing the attack is more personal. If you look at his stats and the team he played on, the level of criticism he has faced just feels completely unwarranted.  There is no reason for this hack of a writer to target Williams in this way after one season in the NFL and there is obviously more behind it.

[medaille]

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out over this next season. If he flops under Ben Johnson, who has a strong reputation, that will be pretty damning for his career.

[purplefaithful]

Poles bolstered the IOL with Dahlman and Thuney
Brought in Johnson for discipline, teaching and culture

Will it be enough?

I think the floor with the Bears this season is having hope that CW is "the guy" and can continue to take steps forward to franchise QB.

Thats the case with JJM too, leaving 2025 knowing we got our guy -- but we're a 14 win team and anything but playoffs (and a win) would be a disappointment to the MN fanbase.

[StickierBuns]

I totally get that and as a Viking fan I am rooting against him from a competition standpoint.  And to clarify, when I say people who are rooting against him, I do not mean those who are for the reason you mention here, but for the ones who it is more obviously personal.  

As a big Michigan fan and having more of a familiarity with JJM than most of us, there would probably be a part of you rooting for him even if went to a rival and not the Vikes.  And that is why I am so passionate for defending Williams.  I live in LA, am a USC fan, have known people in the program there and watched every snap of his there. He was one of the top college football players I have ever seen from my perspective. Also think he is a great kid personally as well, very misunderstood and so it really bothers me when I see him getting criticized and knowing the attack is more personal. If you look at his stats and the team he played on, the level of criticism he has faced just feels completely unwarranted.  There is no reason for this hack of a writer to target Williams in this way after one season in the NFL and there is obviously more behind it.

I can respect that, man. But I would say the criticism comes almost exclusively from being the #1 overall pick and the scrutiny that goes with it. But I won't be naive enough to say a bit might come from other sources not related to football, but not him painting his nails so much but mostly how demonstrative he is. Even Johnson told him he needs to handle his emotions better and not make every frustration an external expression.

[AGRforever]

I totally get that and as a Viking fan I am rooting against him from a competition standpoint.  And to clarify, when I say people who are rooting against him, I do not mean those who are for the reason you mention here, but for the ones who it is more obviously personal.  

As a big Michigan fan and having more of a familiarity with JJM than most of us, there would probably be a part of you rooting for him even if went to a rival and not the Vikes.  And that is why I am so passionate for defending Williams.  I live in LA, am a USC fan, have known people in the program there and watched every snap of his there. He was one of the top college football players I have ever seen from my perspective. Also think he is a great kid personally as well, very misunderstood and so it really bothers me when I see him getting criticized and knowing the attack is more personal. If you look at his stats and the team he played on, the level of criticism he has faced just feels completely unwarranted.  There is no reason for this hack of a writer to target Williams in this way after one season in the NFL and there is obviously more behind it.

I don’t know man. After reading everything that went down in Chicago. I cant come to a conclusion that Williams is a decent human.

[Canthony]

Not rooting for the Bears obviously, but rooting for him to shut a lot of people up.

This didn't age well.

[StickierBuns]

This didn't age well.

I know Ben Johnson's system works, I just don't think its going to work with Caleb Williams. Listen: we can't deny how magical he looked in Q1. But that's never there for the whole game, he misses wide open guys. That shit gets OLD with WRers that work like hell to get open. Mechanically he breaks down under pressure when he's in the pocket. You need efficient and accurate QB play in a system like Ben Johnson's....hell you need that anywhere really. The media is hilariously whore-ish as they don't know whether to slam him or prop him up, always trying to gauge the winds of Social Media and the Twitterheads. Hell, look at Colin Cowherd now, backtracking on JJ quicker than a camper seeing a Grizzly. Gross.

Then you've got the call out for patience with Drake Maye:

https://www.masslive.com/patriots/2025/0...niels.html

https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/new-england...rake-maye/

'Too much on his plate': https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/story/...078176007/

Meanwhile, nobody is saying that about Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr....both who look the part already...not surprisingly because both have played a ton of snaps in college. Daniels, Nix and Penix are NFL QBs, JJ's 4th quarter and his steely resolve lead you to believe he'll be there soon. Still things to see with JJ. But what can you say about Williams and Maye? Zero percent that there isn't some concern in the staffs of both organizations. Lots of football to be played yet, for sure. KOC is betting that JJM is Walmart stock in 1989 before anyone knew what Walmart was.