What Bears GM told Caleb Williams after learning of Vikings desires

The Chicago Bears landed quarterback Caleb Williams with the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, but according to American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, Williams didn’t want to go to Chicago at all. In fact, he apparently considered signing in the UFL to avoid playing for the Bears. There was one NFC North team that Williams was very fond of, however: the Minnesota Vikings.

Caleb Williams met with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell at the NFL Combine, and it went well. Williams wanted to go to Minnesota, but there was no chance of that happening.

“I need to go to the Vikings,” Williams told his father.

“Let’s do it,” his father replied.

Unfortunately for Williams, it doesn’t work like that. The Bears had the first pick in the draft, and they weren’t going to trade it away. Williams didn’t have a choice.

“We’re drafting you no matter what,” Bears GM Ryan Poles said to Williams.

Sure enough, the Bears did select Williams with the first overall pick, and his first year didn’t go so well. Chicago was once again one of the worst teams in the NFL, and head coach Matt Eberflus was fired during the middle of the season.

The good news for Caleb Williams is that most of the problems with the team last year were unrelated to him. He didn’t have a good head coach, and his offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL. The Bears have made a lot of big changes this offseason, and the future is looking bright. However, that has been said about past Chicago teams in the offseason as well.

The Bears revamped their offensive line during the offseason, and they hired former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as the new head coach. Johnson has never been a head coach, but he was the hottest name on the market during the offseason.

Caleb Williams didn’t want to go to the Bears originally, but there is a much better situation in the Windy City now than there was then. Chicago has the tools to compete, so if there isn’t change in the next couple of seasons, there will be a major problem.