Look, I won’t doubt that Caleb Williams is a fiery competitor. You don’t get to where he is in life — a No. 1 overall pick quarterback for the Chicago Bears, the NFL’s charter franchise — without an extra edge and fixation on winning. He is somehow elevating the Bears to new heights they have literally never seen before already.
But c’mon now, we don’t have to mythologize random late nights at the driving range to build up his budding legend. Let’s take things down a notch.
READ MORE: Rich Eisen thinks Caleb Williams can take the Bears to the Super Bowl as a rookie
After Tuesday’s Bears OTA practice, Chicago tight end Cole Kmet told a story about how he and Williams recently spent an entire evening at a local Topgolf. The location was apparently about to close, except Williams seemingly forced them to keep playing until 1 a.m. so he could beat Kmet.
That … does not resonate like this cool story of competition to me:
#Bears TE Cole Kmet says the one thing he's learned about Caleb Williams is how competitive he is. They were at Topgolf recently, and even though the place was about to close, Caleb insisted on finishing the game.
They ended up staying there until 1 a.m. Kmet says he still… pic.twitter.com/W8AHe5AeoR
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) June 5, 2024
I don’t know about you, dearest readers, but this specific story sounds like two guys in their 20s hanging out in the Chicago suburbs with nothing better to do for a night. So, they decided to hang out at a driving range for a few extra hours. Nothing more, nothing less.
I’m all for incredible anecdotes about how Williams pushes his teammates and coaches to improve. That’s all well and good. Williams deserves most of the hype coming his way with the Bears. No one denies this fact. He really could be this special “savior” quarterback everyone thinks he will be.
But I’m not going to take an extended evening centered around hitting a few hundred golf balls at face value to get somehow more excited about a dude who hasn’t thrown a single pass in a game yet. It’s pretty silly to hear Kmet talk about him simply hanging out with his new quarterback and think, “Wow, Williams is such a tenacious winner!”
Let’s be realistic. Let’s be more serious.