Caleb Williams is hoping to usher in a new era of Bears football in Chicago. The first overall pick impressed in the preseason and the hype is building around the first overall pick.
Williams sat down with Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune for an exclusive interview, which was played in part on the Audacy Sports Podcast “Take The North” on Monday.
While Bears fans may be hoping to see superstardom out of Williams right out of the gate, the 22-year-old quarterback knows it could take some time.
“Hopefully, my superstar breakthrough comes through in Game 1. Obviously, it doesn't always happen like that. So I'm just going to keep working,” Williams said. “There is going to be good and bad within this year and maybe even next year. So it's just making sure I'm steadfast and I'm staying at a neutral pace. And when everything fully slows down and is in slow motion and I can see everything in our offense like the back of my hand, I think that's when that (breakthrough) time will come.”
Williams knows what it’s like to wait for a breakout. After a solid freshman year at Oklahoma, he turned it on at USC in 2022, throwing for over 4,500 yards with 42 touchdowns and five interceptions in 14 games. Of course, Williams won the Heisman Trophy for his efforts.
The young quarterback hopes to add to his trophy case throughout his NFL career. Williams has looked up to greats like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant for inspiration.
“It's being able to do the same thing over and over and over and do it at a high level and still have that juice and that fire about yourself. Whether it's in practice or in a game, it's having that juice and that fire lit up under you,” he said. “Maybe it's because of things in your past, maybe it's just because you're here and you love ball, maybe it's all of the above.
“But it's just being able to have that fire up under you through all of OTAs, through training camp, through all 17 games. Maybe 20. It's just being able to have that competitive fire and keep, I guess, adding wood to that fire throughout the year.”
Williams said that he primarily focused on MJ and Kobe to gain that competitive edge.
“It's Michael Jordan, obviously. But Kobe was more my guy. Just for mental (sharpness). Just that everyday assassin kind of thing. That's kind of how I want to be,” he continued. “And so I guess you could say I connected more with him than Jordan. Also, Jordan's a little bit older. So I didn't get to watch his games and things like that in his prime time and hear all the stories.”
Williams confirmed that he met with legendary trainer Tim Grover this year. Grover trained both Jordan and Kobe, as well as some other greats.
“I met with Tim over dinner here (in the Chicago area) just trying to figure out 'What the hell did MJ do? How did he win? How did he become so dominant?' he recalled. “And obviously things are gonna be different for me. Because this is a different sport. The training is different and all these other things. But there's always a certain thing that you can always connect to your own sport. Whether it's F1. Whether it's basketball. Whether it's for other football players. There's always something that you can connect to your sport and use.”
Grover gave Williams insights into the mental toughness and competitive stamina that kept MJ going.
“Obviously, with MJ, it's his mental (strength) of not turning off. Basically it goes back to that competitive stamina thing. It's about not turning off,” Williams said. “And then, you know, there's a point where Tim said that MJ didn't like certain things (within himself).
“It's also kind of what Kobe did after his first year. There were certain things he didn't like with what he was doing. He wasn't strong enough, he wasn't fast enough, he didn't know the game well enough. And so it honestly came down to putting in the work.
“It came down to having that competitive energy about himself to feel like he wasn't good enough at the time and he was going to get better. And he wanted to get better. He wanted to be the best. So he worked at it, kept going, and obviously, he ended up getting six rings out of it. He did all right.”
Bears fans are certainly hopeful that Williams can replicate some of that success.
Williams and the Bears kick off the season on Saturday, September 8th against the Tennessee Titans.
Check out Dan Wiederer’s full 1-on-1 interview with Caleb Williams at the Chicago Tribune