Instead of new head coach Ben Johnson getting all the off-season headlines, a lot of recent Bears chatter has been about reportedly disparaging comments from Caleb Williams and his dad before Johnson even arrived.
On Wednesday, Williams tried to close the book on the controversy.
Williams addressed what he called "the storm" — excerpts from an upcoming book with Williams saying he preferred to be drafted by the Vikings, not the Bears, where his dad said quarterbacks go to die.
"All of the things that were supposed to be these big things that everybody's been talking about recently, one, never happened, in the sense of they were all thoughts. They were all ideas. If you're in the situation, I think, if your son or daughter, anybody is in a situation to be in that position, I think you think about all of the options, and you're looking at the history and at the facts," Williams s aid. "After I came on my visit here, it was a deliberate answer — and the deliberate and determined answer that I had is that I wanted to come here.
Williams reiterated that he is focused on what is ahead of him now, wants to put all the discussion about the draft in the past, and especially wants to be the guy who changes history for the Bears.
"That last thing that was in all of that I think is the most important thing, is that I wanted to here. I love being here. I love my teammate, and I love all the people that got me here," Williams said. "But the main goal, and the main objective of being here, is to turn around. That's why I was selected number one."
As far as Williams saying nobody helped him watch film last year as a rookie, he laughed off that claim — saying it wasn't that he didn't know how to watch film, but it was just about learning ways to be more efficient. He said this is something with which Coach Ben Johnson has already helped him.
Matt Zahn
Matt Zahn joined CBS2 Chicago in October 2016 as a sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor, and what a time to come to Chicago. Matt arrived just as the Cubs won the World Series.