Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Caleb Williams and the Crosstown Classic

Happy Friday Chicago!

Let’s start today with a former Chicago detractor in Caleb Williams.

For background, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham reported Thursday that Williams — and more so his father — initially did not want to be drafted by the Bears last year. That piece of reporting is a part of Wickersham’s upcoming book on quarterbacks, which highlights Williams in one of its chapters.

I’ve got the article up right now with all the quotes from Williams and his father, Carl Williams. I’m about to print it, lick my thumb, then file it away in the folder I have under my desk that’s marked No fucking shit.

That joins another folder addition from earlier this week, an article on the front page of ESPN.com titled “Mavs will not trade the no. 1 overall pick in draft.”

Those both sit between the files on Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny not being real; Hulk Hogan’s official endorsement of Donald Trump for president; the wide-ranging 2023 study that concluded drinking alcohol is not good for you; and a letter from the actress who played the cheerleader in The Replacements telling me she would not marry me.

What is all the hubbub about? Are people really confused, are people hurt?

Yeah, we know Caleb Williams’ dad didn’t want him to come to Chicago.

The Bears basically have two good quarterbacks in their over 100-year history. One of them was named Sid Luckman, he looked like this…

… and the other is Jay Cutler, who never even made a Pro-Bowl with the Bears and was arguably not even good.

One has a prehistoric name, the other was beloved only after the internet started photoshopping fake cigarettes into his mouth.

“Did the quarterback want to go to Chicago?” sounds like the start of a joke. “Yeah, because O’Hare has more connections than any airport in the country!”

The fellas are all slapping their knees at the Green Bay bars over that one.

I could not be less offended by this news. If there’s anything less surprising than the top prospect in the NFL Draft not wanting to play quarterback in Chicago, it’s that top prospect having an obnoxious, overbearing dad.

If you’re offended by Carl Williams being overzealous in his effort to get his son somewhere else besides Chicago, I guess we’ll have to put Tyson Bagent in. Ah, Tyson Bagent, the son of the arm wrestler who screams bloody murder during preseason games and tells people the team wants his son to be the starter.

Come on man! Is this the big news? Really? If there was still editorial news judgement that dictated what got to the American public and what didn’t, this one would’ve gotten thrown out. It would have been cast aside in favor of a politician philandering, a rockstar going to rehab, or a hurricane hitting Florida.

Surely, there must be more to this story than Williams (and again, more so his father) just “not wanting to go to Chicago.”

It doesn’t look like it, though.

Carl Williams called Archie Manning, he called the NFL Draft “unconstitutional,” and floated the idea of going to the UFL for a year.

I’ll break the suspense, that didn’t happen. Nor would it have ever happened.

Ultimately, Williams ended up with the Bears for three reasons: he decided it was best to come here, that he was “up for the challenge”; Ryan Poles told him “we’re drafting you no matter what”; and — most importantly — he was never going to forego being the no. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, no matter how many times his Dad googled “constituton” and got a spell suggestion on the other end.

It’s alright. I don’t need my quarterback to be some kid dreaming of winning a Super Bowl in the big Windy City from the jump. Don’t need no concert in the city. I got spaghetti here, a cheap bottle of winnne.

I’m ready to watch the kid beat Green Bay again in his sophomore year.

The only revelations from the piece were that 1. Williams was leery of Shane Waldron, the now-fired Bears offensive coordinator. 2. Eberflus had final say on the offensive coordinator hire, which was Waldron. 3. Williams was not instructed on how to watch film, or what to watch at all, that he just “turned it on.” 4. That he got “little to no” coaching at times.

But even then, are those revelations? I regret my use of the word.

Those aren’t revelations, just like it wasn’t surprising to see all of the Williams family’s greatest fears come to fruition in Caleb’s rookie year.

I doubt Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson wanted to go to New Orleans, that Kyrie Irving, Anthony Bennett, and Andrew Wiggins wanted to go to Cleveland. I also doubt Baker Mayfield wanted to go to Cleveland, that Trevor Lawrence wanted to go to Jacksonville, that Bryce Young wanted to go to Carolina.

Carl Williams said Chicago is where “quarterbacks go to die.” That’s not even an original quote.

This isn’t news, and I don’t care.

I dealt with the social media backlash to Caleb Williams painting his nails. Didn’t care. I read the piece on him in Esquire, ready to cringe, and just found out he has a rocket girlfriend and spends a lot of time in Europe with her. Oh, and that he’s obsessed with football, the 2025 Bears, and getting better. Then, I read this piece today.

Yawn, yawn, another yawn, and it’s time for bed.

The Bears organization has always tried to derive excitement from the past, which is why they’ve continually failed in the present. The reason we — you and me — are excited for the Bears is for what could be coming with Williams and this team moving forward. What could be coming under Ben Johnson (who Williams said he was thrilled to work with).

It’s not because we think the Bears are an institution to be protected at all costs, that Chicago is such a great city that people should want to enjoy failed careers here.

I won’t remember writing this or reading any of the aforementioned, manufactured media stories when, 10 years from now, I’m happy as a clam around 11 a.m. waiting for the Bears to start, with Williams still at the helm and his own steakhouse down the street from me.

I’ll be playing Fashion Killa by A$AP Rocky, telling my two kids “y’all know nothing about this,” while they play in the Metaverse and ignore me on their VR headsets.

My son will tell me he likes the dad he has in the Metaverse better, and I’ll tell him I don’t give a fuck about that, just like I don’t give a fuck about this, because the Bears are once again in playoff contention.

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Talk about not giving a fuck—the Crosstown Classic is here!

Just kidding.

The Crosstown Classic vitriol has calmed down over the last few years, as one team has generally sucked, one fanbase has hated their own team, or both have been true — for both teams — at the same time.

But in reality, it’s always fun. It’s particularly fun when the Cubs dig themselves in insurmountable holes like the last couple of years and find themselves on top after nine innings.

The White Sox are the first team ever to be a pleasantly surprising 14-30, and their fans finally have a few guys to root for.

I’m not going to write about those guys or those 14 wins because I’ve watched two White Sox games this entire year and am not afraid to admit it.

Nevertheless, I’ll throw on my creative SUX shirt this weekend and dig my heels in. I’ll wait to see if any of my Sox fan friends want to play ball, if they can get under my skin enough for me to react.

For now, I’m happy we’re getting three games out of the crosstown series this year, but also acknowledging it’s a basically a lose-lose from the Cubs perspective. And, ipso facto, it’s a win-win for the Sox. “We suck, you should beat us” or “We beat you, you guys suck.”

Many things change over the years, but the rudimentary arguments over the Cubs-Sox rivalry do not. We do have to check in on one argument of the past, however.

Javier Baez versus Tim Anderson. Who’s better? For the past three years, this argument has looked like an inconceivable relic stored away in the bowels of the rivalry’s museum.

But now, I’m happy to report that Baez is hitting over .300 and has a pulse, which is not the case for Anderson.

The Cubs are arguably hitting their first tough patch, which is surprisingly — or perhaps unsurprisingly — coming just as the schedule eases up.

They beat the Marlins in a series this week, but man, I wanted a sweep. Also unsurprising was the fact that they lost the last game in the series.

Moisés Ballesteros was called up this week after Ian Happ was placed on the IL. Before we get to him, I feel like I should note that it seems every time the trainer looks at a hurt Cubs player, he initially shrugs. Then a week later we get an unclear timeline and an IL stint.

But it was exciting to get two big prospects up in the big leagues for Cubs fans. Last week Cade Horton, and this week Ballesteros. No one was more excited than Ballesteros family, who cheered uproariously and adorably when he grounded into a fielder’s choice on Tuesday.

In May, Dansby Swanson is slashing .364/.440/.682, and when hitting seventh or eighth, he has more than doubled his numbers from when he was hitting fifth. In the seventh spot, he’s hitting .500, in the eighth spot, he’s hitting .387.

Nico Hoerner has been clutch over and over, and he was again Tuesday in that wonderful 9th-inning, comeback win. Justin Turner finally had his first big moment with the Cubs.

The Cubs have eight hitters with an OPS+ over league average. Their bullpen is still volatile and dragged down repeatedly by one bad inning from whoever decides to roll out a stinker that day.

There’s things that need fixing. But as the season unfolds, I’m starting to believe the Cubs may get a late-season spark from those earlier mentioned young guys and Matt Shaw, who is still in Iowa.

Shaw has an .850 OPS since being sent down to the minors. He’s the best option at third, in my opinion, for the rest of the season. The Cubs need Horton with Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele out, and every team can use a 21-year-old who just flat out hits like Ballesteros.

We’ll see two of three this weekend, and I hope they join Pete Crow-Armstrong in shaping an optimistic view for the rest of this season, and the years that come after this one.

I’m ready for some fun May baseball, Chicago.

Next week, I’ll be happy to break down the Bears schedule by wins and losses and overshoot the wins by five games. A yearly tradition like no other.

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Thank you for reading another edition of Still Gotta Come Through Chicago! Comment below, and I’ll see you all next week.