House of Dysfunction: The Curious Case of Caleb Williams

JR44 wrote:
Jayden Daniels - 69% completion, 3,568 yards, 25 TDs, 9 iNTs Caleb Williams - 63% completion, 3,541 yards, 20 TDs, 6 INTs Consider Daniels played for a playoff team that was very well coached and a lot of playmakers on offense, while Williams played for a team that was a complete disaster with horrible coaching.  I honestly, don't get what this kid did to get all the harsh criticism and hack writers like this trying to make name for themselves by spewing a lot of garbage. Kid looked very good against us and almost brought them back from a large deficit.  Not rooting for the Bears obviously, but rooting for him to shut a lot of people up.

Two very different players, the stats don't come close to telling the story. The sacks he took are really something to watch, almost unprecedented in how many were directly his fault by holding onto the ball forever. He'll have this season to change the bust narrative...he's got a better team around him.

JR44 wrote:
 If Williams gets the right support around him, he is going to disappoint a lot of people who are rooting for him to fail.

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.

JR44 wrote:
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.

Canthony wrote:
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/2025/09/patriots-fans-should-be-patient-with-drake-maye-mark-daniels.html https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/new-england-patriots/2024-draft-jj-mccarthy-drake-maye/ 'Too much on his plate': https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/patriots/2025/09/10/patriots-drake-maye-pushes-back-too-much-plate-comment/86078176007/ 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.

MaroonBells wrote:
Oh I don't know. Plenty of folks in Denver are beginning to wonder about Nix. No doubt he played well last year, but out of all the 1st round QBs from the 2024 draft, Nix probably played the worst in week one this year.

Yeah, can't disagree on Nix's last game and I mentioned it in my 'observations' thread: probably could have had 4 INTs Sunday. But he's played his way into a little latitude from last season. And Denver still won. Silly to wonder over 1 game when he was nails most of last season, but that's what Twitter fanboys do. If Nix plays sketchy and a little inconsistent the next 3 to 4 games, then yes....red flag time probably.

MaroonBells wrote:
In a vacuum it would be right to give the kid some latitude after a great first year and a bad start in his second. [b]But this fact comes with alarm bells. We've seen this so many times before, where a QB has a great rookie season only to fall back down to earth his second. Mac Jones, Stroud, etc. [/b] That's the worry I'm hearing among friends and media in Denver right now, especially considering this atrocious performance was against maybe the worst defense in the NFL. Sure, it's week one and weird things happen and you can't take too much away from it. But I think the next few weeks are pivotal for Nix and the Broncos franchise. Meanwhile, the town waits on eggshells.

This is VERY true. And I've said and agreed with this point before and all day long. My only point is its one game. I've personally never bought into Bo Nix fully because I think he's already hit his ceiling. I agree with everything else you say here in 2 more games if he plays like Game 1.