Caleb Williams addresses Seth Wickersham’s report on attempts to avoid playing for Bears: ‘I love being here’

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has been on the receiving end of a ton of controversy as of late following a report from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham suggested that he and his father tried everything they could not to be drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL Draft. And on Wednesday, Williams discussed this report extensively during his media availability.

According to Wickersham’s report earlier this month, Caleb Williams and his father Carl were so concerned with being drafted by the Bears organization that they explored legal action to avoid the draft, trying to force a move elsewhere, and even playing for a season in the UFL.

In a statement to Wickersham, Carl Williams, Caleb’s father, described Chicago as “the place quarterbacks go to die” prior to the 2024 NFL Draft, which relays exactly where his head was at in regards to the possibility of his son playing for the Bears.

Understandably, Williams has viewed this report as a “distraction” from the reality of the situation, that he is a member of the Bears organization no matter how it came to be. At the very beginning of his press conference on Wednesday, Williams addressed the report and how his father’s thoughts, which Wickersham did accurately report on, were entirely separate from his own.

“This whole storm that happened, it wasn’t something that we wanted to happen at this point. We’re focused on the present, we’re focused on now. We’re focused on trying to get this ship moving in the right direction. And I think so far, that’s what we’ve been doing. But for this to come out, it’s been a distraction. So coming up here and talking about it is important today. So that’s what we’re here to do.

“All that went down, all that was said. Yeah, I had a good visit at the other place, Minnesota with Kevin O’Connell. Good staff and all that obviously. He just won Coach of the Year Award and things like that. But something that keeps getting lost and keeps not getting addressed is that fact that I went on that visit first, came here. And after I came here, I went back home, talked to my dad and all of the things that were supposed to be these big things that everybody has been talking about recently. They never happened in the sense that they were all thoughts. They were all ideas.

“If you are in that situation, your son or daughter is in the situation to be in that position, I think you think about all of the options. You look at the history and the facts, and all these different things. Those are thoughts that go throughout your head in those situations. After I came on my visit here, it was a deliberate answer and a deliberate and determined answer that I had, it’s that I wanted to come here.”

Williams did admit that the facts about the Bears organization, referring to the lack of success from the quarterback position in Chicago, were things that he, too, thought about. But ultimately, he viewed the lackluster history as an “enticing” challenge to help turn around the culture in the organization.

“Through all of what happened last year and in previous years, I think that was enticing,” added Williams. “I think that was something that was glaring to me. I wanted to come here and be the guy. Be a part and a reason why the Chicago Bears turn this thing around. That last thing that was said in all of that is most important. I wanted to be here, I love being here. I love my teammates. I love all of the people that got me here. But like I said, all of those things were thoughts. But the main objective being here is to turn things around. That’s why I was selected number one. So that’s what we’re here to do.”

Ultimately, as Ben Johnson detailed in his response to the report, the only thing that really matters is that Williams wants to be a Bear right now under this new regime.

And based on everything he said on Wednesday, it sure sounds like he remains quite eager to help Johnson and the Bears organization turn things around.