2025-26 NFL Season Thread

[bmags]

With the season etc etc.

[Chisoxfn]

LETS GO!!! Lets win the real season Chicago Bears!!! 

[Tony]

He was proven to be 100% right. Poles/Warren should be embarrassed. Better hope Johnson and Co. can fix it, and fix it fast. 

[Kyyle23]

This is what happens when you don’t take action when it needs to be taken.  Fortunately this kid listened to the union and went through with the process but this is absolutely a huge red flag and poles better never find himself in this sort of a predicament again

[southsider2k5]

This has all been obvious for years.  The Bears and White Sox have a lot in common.  #1, they still think you can run a franchise like you did in the 1980s.

[Flash Tizzle]

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

This is what happens when you don’t take action when it needs to be taken.  Fortunately this kid listened to the union and went through with the process but this is absolutely a huge red flag and poles better never find himself in this sort of a predicament again

There’s so much to unpack from that article. Everything Caleb and his dad feared would happen, happened. What’s funny/sad to me is, at one point, Poles had to have a conversation where he tried convincing Caleb of the great coaching structure in place. One day, we’ll get his posthumous Athletic article about these last couple years and the draft process. 

There’s a lot riding on this year. I know we all have varying degrees on what a successful season is for Caleb; but W/L record aside, he should improve in every metric. Everything is there for him to succeed.

I really believe if this doesn’t work out with Caleb, we won’t have another top QB drafted here until the McCaskeys leave. 

Edited May 15 by Flash Tizzle

[LittleHurtCG]

Crazy stuff. Bears should have told this prima donna and his Dad to go pound sand and taken Jayden Daniels instead. 

[southsider2k5]

15 minutes ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Crazy stuff. Bears should have told this prima donna and Dad to go pound sand and taken Jayden Daniels instead. 

Jayden Daniels wouldn't have done a damned thing here either.  Williams's Dad is 100% right.  This place was a deathpool for QBs.  Hopefully they made the right changes this year, but we will see.

[PaleAleSox]

23 minutes ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Crazy stuff. Bears should have told this prima donna and his Dad to go pound sand and taken Jayden Daniels instead. 

He wasn't wrong, has not complained publicly at all, and seems to have been nothing but loyal. He now has a great coach and weapons all around.

[LittleHurtCG]

1 hour ago, PaleAleSox said:

He wasn't wrong, has not complained publicly at all, and seems to have been nothing but loyal. He now has a great coach and weapons all around.

Hope this is all water under the bridge now. If things go south again this year for the Bears, will Caleb and his Dad just accept it or do they start demanding a trade? 

[PaleAleSox]

10 minutes ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Hope this is all water under the bridge now. If things go south again this year for the Bears, will Caleb and his Dad just accept it or do they start demanding a trade? 

I mean, he now has the best offensive mind in the game. A revamped line, and more targets than he could ever need. So I don’t know what else they could do to keep him happy. 

[Milkman delivers]

3 hours ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Crazy stuff. Bears should have told this prima donna and his Dad to go pound sand and taken Jayden Daniels instead. 

I can’t imagine how anyone would take the side of the Bears in this situation 😆

[southsider2k5]

27 minutes ago, Milkman delivers said:

I can’t imagine how anyone would take the side of the Bears in this situation 😆

Fr

[Tony]

4 hours ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Crazy stuff. Bears should have told this prima donna and his Dad to go pound sand and taken Jayden Daniels instead. 

This post is SUCH a good example of the culture we live in. 

Father has concerns that his son is being put in a bad position, and because of the unique nature of sports, it’s a situation that players don’t really have any control over. 

Those concerns are rooted in objective facts based on the results the Bears franchise has had historically at the QB position. 

There is also historical precedent set by Eli Manning where a player (and father) have forced the hand of the team picking No. 1 overall, and Carl and Caleb decided not to go that route. 

These were concerns BEFORE Caleb was drafted, and what transpired over the course of the 2024 season was probably worse than Carl and Caleb could have predicted, with both Waldron and Eberflus being canned mid year, with the HC being called out by multiple players of his team for a lack of accountability and leadership, and Caleb wasn’t one of the players that went to the media. 
 

So with all those facts out there for everyone…you still come to the conclusion Caleb and Carl Williams are prima donna’s. Incredible. 

[Tony]

3 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

I mean, he now has the best offensive mind in the game. A revamped line, and more targets than he could ever need. So I don’t know what else they could do to keep him happy. 

With everything we now know and have seen, there were a lot of things working against Caleb in 2024. 

That’s not the case in 2025. While the roster isn’t perfect, no team is and he has the tools to take a huge leap forward. It’s on him in 2025. Go time. 

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

This post is SUCH a good example of the culture we live in. 

Father has concerns that his son is being put in a bad position, and because of the unique nature of sports, it’s a situation that players don’t really have any control over. 

Those concerns are rooted in objective facts based on the results the Bears franchise has had historically at the QB position. 

There is also historical precedent set by Eli Manning where a player (and father) have forced the hand of the team picking No. 1 overall, and Carl and Caleb decided not to go that route. 

These were concerns BEFORE Caleb was drafted, and what transpired over the course of the 2024 season was probably worse than Carl and Caleb could have predicted, with both Waldron and Eberflus being canned mid year, with the HC being called out by multiple players of his team for a lack of accountability and leadership, and Caleb wasn’t one of the players that went to the media. 
 

So with all those facts out there for everyone…you still come to the conclusion Caleb and Carl Williams are prima donna’s. Incredible. 

To be fair, some of that goes back to the way he left Oklahoma for USC, but it's hard to argue (up until that point at least) with the QB track record of Lincoln Riley.

He had Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield AND Jalen Hurts.

And nearly everyone thought that Riley was going to lead USC back into the national title hunt...and he did for most of Williams' first season in LA.

[Chisoxfn]

I just hope the noise and article isn’t by Caleb. I don’t see anything good for him and his team wasting his time on this narrative. We all know Flus sucked and situation wasn’t great - but focus your time on getting better right now cause he has plenty to work on. 

[Tony]

30 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I just hope the noise and article isn’t by Caleb. I don’t see anything good for him and his team wasting his time on this narrative. We all know Flus sucked and situation wasn’t great - but focus your time on getting better right now cause he has plenty to work on. 

Courtney Cronin was on ESPN Radio today and mentioned that Wickersham spoke to Caleb multiple times to confirm quotes and stories, so it 100% came from Caleb and Carl. I don’t think he’s doing it to harm the Bears, I’m sure this book Wickersham has written was in the works for quite some time, and Caleb was honest (in his view) of what transpired. I also don’t think it needs to be a large distraction this upcoming season. It will be talked about at OTA’s I’m sure, but then people will move on and Caleb playing well will make everyone forget about it that much quicker 

[Quin]

12 hours ago, Tony said:

This post is SUCH a good example of the culture we live in. 

Father has concerns that his son is being put in a bad position, and because of the unique nature of sports, it’s a situation that players don’t really have any control over. 

Those concerns are rooted in objective facts based on the results the Bears franchise has had historically at the QB position. 

There is also historical precedent set by Eli Manning where a player (and father) have forced the hand of the team picking No. 1 overall, and Carl and Caleb decided not to go that route. 

These were concerns BEFORE Caleb was drafted, and what transpired over the course of the 2024 season was probably worse than Carl and Caleb could have predicted, with both Waldron and Eberflus being canned mid year, with the HC being called out by multiple players of his team for a lack of accountability and leadership, and Caleb wasn’t one of the players that went to the media. 
 

So with all those facts out there for everyone…you still come to the conclusion Caleb and Carl Williams are prima donna’s. Incredible. 

And despite all of this, Caleb has publicly embraced being a Bear from the moment he was drafted. Dude's neck deep in the culture, he just wants to win.

[Chisoxfn]

9 minutes ago, Quin said:

And despite all of this, Caleb has publicly embraced being a Bear from the moment he was drafted. Dude's neck deep in the culture, he just wants to win.

My point is - you have work to do as a qb. How about focus on that vs put this stuff out there and spend time on this. Think of the bulletin board material week 1. Think of the dialogue now and how it impacts things. If he is now all bought into Chicago - why spend all this time (not saying this is a ton of time - might have been all of one one hour conversation) rehashing this stuff and making it a thing. 
 

 

[SoxAce]

3 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

My point is - you have work to do as a qb. How about focus on that vs put this stuff out there and spend time on this. Think of the bulletin board material week 1. Think of the dialogue now and how it impacts things. If he is now all bought into Chicago - why spend all this time (not saying this is a ton of time - might have been all of one one hour conversation) rehashing this stuff and making it a thing. 
 

 

Its not Caleb. Its a guy trying to sell his book. There has been whispers of this since last year. The only thing Caleb has to do when he talks to the media is say hey... yes me and my team had our reservations on this franchise (and rightfully so might I add) on how they are going to develop me. But I wanted the challenge and I took it head on. That's it. Funny thing is, Caleb's dad was right. But now that they hired the right coach, everyone can put this behind them.

Edited May 16 by SoxAce

[ptatc]

15 hours ago, Tony said:

This post is SUCH a good example of the culture we live in. 

Father has concerns that his son is being put in a bad position, and because of the unique nature of sports, it’s a situation that players don’t really have any control over. 

Those concerns are rooted in objective facts based on the results the Bears franchise has had historically at the QB position. 

There is also historical precedent set by Eli Manning where a player (and father) have forced the hand of the team picking No. 1 overall, and Carl and Caleb decided not to go that route. 

These were concerns BEFORE Caleb was drafted, and what transpired over the course of the 2024 season was probably worse than Carl and Caleb could have predicted, with both Waldron and Eberflus being canned mid year, with the HC being called out by multiple players of his team for a lack of accountability and leadership, and Caleb wasn’t one of the players that went to the media. 
 

So with all those facts out there for everyone…you still come to the conclusion Caleb and Carl Williams are prima donna’s. Incredible. 

I don't think its necessarily just the Bears. It's that they wanted to blow up the whole nfl. Going to labor lawyers to challenge the draft, etc. It is prima donna just like Elway and Manning. 

Give the Williams family credit that they didn't do it.

This isn't the first and won't be the last qb and family that are put in this position.

[southsider2k5]

Caleb isn't alone.

 

[Tony]

44 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I don't think its necessarily just the Bears. It's that they wanted to blow up the whole nfl. Going to labor lawyers to challenge the draft, etc. It is prima donna just like Elway and Manning. 

Give the Williams family credit that they didn't do it.

This isn't the first and won't be the last qb and family that are put in this position.

I don't have a solution for the how you change the draft structure in pro sports, someone way smarter than me would have to come up with something, but I've long believed it's a completely unfair process that needs to be addressed. Yes, no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head to play a professional sport, but being a fan in Chicago, we've watched all of our favorite teams select players in the top part of multiple drafts that I’m 99% sure would have prospered if a different team would have selected them. The Sox have had more players than I'd like to remember that were taken high in the first round, rushed through the minors, and you can just see a lack of development at the major league level. It’s happened too many times for it to be coincidence. But the issue is those players don’t have a choice on what team is in control of that development. How many millions of dollars have they cost athletes that already have an incredibly short career span? 

I will not hold it against Carl Williams, or any parent, to ensure their son/daughter is put in the best situation possible. 

[ptatc]

14 minutes ago, Tony said:

I don't have a solution for the how you change the draft structure in pro sports, someone way smarter than me would have to come up with something, but I've long believed it's a completely unfair process that needs to be addressed. Yes, no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head to play a professional sport, but being a fan in Chicago, we've watched all of our favorite teams select players in the top part of multiple drafts that I’m 99% sure would have prospered if a different team would have selected them. The Sox have had more players than I'd like to remember that were taken high in the first round, rushed through the minors, and you can just see a lack of development at the major league level. It’s happened too many times for it to be coincidence. But the issue is those players don’t have a choice on what team is in control of that development. How many millions of dollars have they cost athletes that already have an incredibly short career span? 

I will not hold it against Carl Williams, or any parent, to ensure their son/daughter is put in the best situation possible. 

It a fundamental aspects of sports leagues that there is an attempt at competitive balance. All of them have drafts where the bottom tier of teams gets to acquire the new players through a draft.

Without this process, unless like you said smarter people than me can figure out a solution, leagues become noncompetitive and whoever has the most money wins. All leagues takes steps to prevent this.

As I said in give credit to the Williams family for not pursuing it. Of course all parents want to put their kids in the best situations. That doesn't mean you get to break all the rules to do it. Unfortunately, if you have kids in sports many parents try and succeed.