Had a little get together the other day, and of course, we started talking Bears. The conversation lead down the same path that Hard Knocks put us on… saying that Caleb Williams could be the biggest thing since Michael Jordan. When I first heard that, I scoffed; let’s pump the brakes folks. We’re talking about MJ! 6 titles… not only greatest Chicago athlete ever, not only the greatest basketball player ever, but quite possibly, the greatest athlete of all time across all sports; that’s a pretty high bar. So, bringing us down just a notch, and thinking about the next greatest Chicago athlete, I’m looking at Walter Payton. So Caleb Williams can be ranked ahead of Walter Payton? That’s a tough pill to swallow, but one I definitely want to be asked to; of course, we’re talking multiple Super Bowls…
The convo went on about Chicago being a Bears town, above all; I don’t disagree. And yes, the QB of the #1 team in the city, bringing home multiple titles, surely would be on the Mount Rushmore of Chicago sports, right? Right. One thing though: we’ve already had this. Yes, it’s a common topic, both locally and nationally, to talk about how inept the Bears have been at the QB position; it’s not incorrect. However, once upon a time… yes, there was football BEFORE the Super Bowl came along, and yes, there was such a thing called the NFL Championship, and yes, I know most people weren’t around for that, so why would we talk about it… but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. QB Sid Luckman was at the helm for 4 NFL Championships for our Chicago Bears. Imagine that!
So back to Caleb… and how great can he be, how high on this list of all-time Chicago athletes. I think the bar has been set; he’ll need to win 4 Super Bowls, period. It doesn’t get him to MJ level (IMO nobody ever will be at that level); maybe it gets him past Payton and Luckman (and Butkus and Sayers and…) on the Bears all-time list. Kane and Toews won 3 Cups each; he would pass them, as well as, Hull and Mikita I’m guessing. That leaves the baseball teams, and with 3 titles each over 100 years… sure, there have been great players, and I know we’ll never forget the 2005 Sox and 2016 Cubs, but… Caleb would pass any all-time Chicago baseball player IMO.
There’s the map to getting to Rushmore for Caleb Williams; no pressure kid. In actuality, with recency bias, he may get away with 3 Super Bowls… haha. Although I love to think about this, I just want him to a win 1… game! Let’s take this slow. Thinking about winning 1 game, getting to the playoffs (regularly), and winning 1 Super Bowl is exciting enough; thinking about more than that, well… that feels like just a pipe dream at this point, but if you know me… you know I’m a dreamer, so… bring it on. Bear Down!!!
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