Bears QB Caleb Williams embraces a brighter spotlight entering Year 3: ‘Everybody is looking at you'

CHICAGO - Of all the recent praise lavished on Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams this offseason, it's doubtful he expected flattery coming out of Green Bay.

In a teaser for NFL Network's Top 100 Players survey, several players are asked to name the No. 1 player, and Packers star edge rusher Micah Parsons says, without cringing, "Yeah, Iceman."

Later in the clip, Parsons adds: "I've got something for Iceman for sure. Where there's ice, there's also fire, and I'm the fire."

During the last day of Bears minicamp Thursday, Williams seemed reluctant to engage with the man who could be chasing him next season.

"Obviously it's good jokes," Williams told reporters at Halas Hall. "We're football players on opposite teams, so it's a little rivalry. Nothing taken to heart. He said he's fire and I'm ice, so we'll see which one holds over."

Parsons also said he called Williams the best player because he sped up his clock and played with more confidence, but Williams seemed even more sheepish about the compliment.

"That's cool," he said.

These days could swell a young quarterback's head.

Earlier this offseason, he was named the Madden NFL 27 cover athlete and took center stage of a promotional event at Navy Pier. He'll be featured in "NFL Top 100" for the first time in his career.

And his star continues to rise outside Chicago.

According to Fanatics, the licensed merchandise partner of the NFL and the other major North American professional sports leagues, Williams' jersey ranked as the top seller across all sports during the Bears' playoff run, and his sales have doubled since being unveiled as Madden's cover athlete.

But if there's a key word for Williams heading into his third season, it's probably "perspective."

Whether handling off-field appearances or a huddle, Williams is keenly aware that a growing number of eyes are on him - fans, coaches, NFL peers, teammates, you name it - and he's not shying away from the growing expectations from all corners.

The journey "is what keeps everything going for me and myself mentally and physically," Williams said. "There's so much to unlock, there's so much to get better at, there's so much left of ball for me and us and accolades that we'll have as a team.

"And then having a good support system around me, having (coach) Ben (Johnson) and my teammates … that I've got to look in the face and make sure I'm doing the right thing every single day to accomplish our goal."

Three sides to the quarterback have become central to his development this offseason.

1. Williams, the field general

Over three days of minicamp, as a passer, Williams had his hits and misses. He made his customary highlight-reel throws, but cornerback Jaylon Johnson picked him off twice and safety Coby Bryant once.

But camp is where players not only iron out the rough edges, but also begin to test their mettle in ways that don't show up as statistics.

During a four-minute drill, Williams connected with Luther Burden III on a deep pass up the left sideline, which the referees ruled short of a touchdown. Burden continued to argue with the clock ticking.

"Yeah, 'cause he thought he scored," Williams said.

That's when the field general kicked in. Williams barked at Burden to line up for the next play so he could clock it.

"When you're in practice, you deal with those things," he said. "Just being able to reel him back in and get ready to go, score again.

"If there's extra that I need to do, if it's sitting down and talking to them, if it's on the field and we've got to yell and get them back to the huddle, any of those little things, it's whatever it takes to get to the end goal."

Veterans and rookies, newcomers and incumbents are constantly watching how Williams handles not only the offense, but also himself, from day to day and down to down.

Left tackle Braxton Jones, who's entering his fifth season, said he admires Williams' consistency.

"We're all human. There's going to be up and down days," Jones said. "The way he responds is exactly where you want someone like him to be. I'm very proud of him, how he continues to stay day in and day out. Doing extra.

"I always see his car here after (practice) when I'm leaving and he's doing more stuff, I'm sure, going and getting that extra work."

Williams said he prides himself on being even-keeled, but by his own admission, the Iceman's nature runs hot.

"I get fiery," he said. "There's times for it. There's times to be fiery, there's times to not be."

It's not a revelation that how Williams behaves as a leader affects the rest of the team, but it's another thing to internalize it and always be aware of it.

If he forgets, he has coaches and veterans to remind him.

Williams said there was a day "I wasn't having the best practice, so I got really frustrated and (wide receiver) Kalif (Raymond) came up to me and said, ‘Everybody is looking at you.' That really resonated for me because that's been something from my first year to now, I want to be as stoic as possible, good, bad or indifferent. Not be too high or too low for the guys.

"So when he said that to me, it stuck with me and it bothered me. So just every day (it's) having that type of mindset. Be as stoic as possible, strong as possible for the guys, because they are looking at me."

Ben Johnson thought back on those early conversations he had with Williams last spring, when the first-time head coach and second-year QB were first learning about each other. Johnson said not much has changed from Williams' side of the dialogue.

"Those were (that) he wants to win here in Chicago and he wants to win Super Bowls," Johnson said. "That's really his motivating factor. He's been very clear and consistent with that message over the last year and a half that I've gotten to know him."

2. Williams, the work in progress

The recognition has been nice, but when you have a star next to your name, you also have a target on your back.

Johnson has assembled a lot of speedy, twitchy weapons in Burden, Raymond and Zavion Thomas, and he has a slippery impresario in Williams. But it all will go for naught if Williams can't take advantage of their advantages.

It's not just about his accuracy, which was only 58.1% in the 2025 regular season and 52.2% in the postseason. It's also getting better balls to his targets when he doesn't complete them.

Johnson said he talks about ball placement every day in the quarterback room and grades each pass.

"It starts in practice," Williams said. "It starts with the mindset of that, and then from there you keep growing."

He added that improving his process at the line of scrimmage, from how he reads defenses pre-snap to making better adjustments, puts him in a better position for better throws.

"It's something that I realize is supremely important," Williams said. "It's important how we call it, how we play, how our routes are run, the concepts. … It's important to Coach, so it's important to me and it's important to everybody else."

For Johnson's part, he said he doesn't want to tamp down Williams' gift for improvisation - which played a part in most of the Bears' seven fourth-quarter comebacks last year - but he has to establish a baseline.

If everyone is aligned on what a certain route must look like, Williams can "tell the receiver, ‘Hey, you're missing your depth,' or, ‘Expect the ball to be at this spot,' " Johnson said.

"Whether we're out there in a practice setting or he likes to keep those guys out there after and work a little bit more after practice, he's stepped up and he's continuing to get better every single day. And it's just a (matter) of how many reps can we continue to pile on over the course of training camp."

Williams' second training camp under Johnson begins in about six weeks. And that makes all the difference.

Last year his head was swimming with the installation of a new offense and the demands of a hard-nosed new head coach. Williams said he told an assistant coach last year he felt "like I was drowning, trying to breathe or stay alive and wait for a boat to come around."

"Now this year it's being able to start where we finished last year," he said, "play calls and words and verbiage and speak the same language. … That's the advantage."

3. Williams, the budding superstar

The metrics suggest that if he's not already there, he's close.

According to the NFL, Williams' game-tying touchdown pass to Cole Kmet against the Los Angeles Rams during the divisional round was the league's most viewed playoff highlight on social media: 20 million views on Instagram alone.

The NFL posted 23 videos featuring that play across all social media, generating 54 million views.

During the season, Williams' Instagram following grew by 70% to 397,000 followers, the fifth-largest increase, according to the NFL.

That's fans. Then there are his peers.

Parsons isn't Williams' only admirer among players interviewed for "NFL Top 100," which airs from June 22 to Sept. 4 on NFL Network.

"He has a unique level of poise," New York Jets linebacker Demario Davis said.

Safety Kevin Byard III, who was Williams' teammate before signing with the New England Patriots in March, said picking his favorite Williams moment was tough "because he has some crazy moments." Byard settled on the game-winning touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 2.

"He threw a crazy, game-clinching touchdown against Philly (on Nov. 28)," Byard said. "The Green Bay game, the overtime game-winner (on Dec. 20 was) one of the best plays that I've ever been a part of."

No matter the source of the limelight, Johnson said he's not worried about Williams losing focus. He doesn't have to reel in Williams like Williams did with Burden on Thursday.

"No, I am focused on coaching him," Johnson said. "Our discussions are always about football. This is a guy that has grown up in this. He's been a five-star recruit. He's won a Heisman. He knows how to handle attention. You come to a big city like Chicago, a place that loves their sports and loves the Bears, this is kind of what he's built for. It's a good match."

No matter how big the spotlight grows, Williams said he's prepared for it.

"I understood that I was going to a big market," he told reporters during his Madden video-game christening. "I grew up in D.C. - big market. I went to L.A. - second-biggest market. And then now I'm here at the third-biggest market. And so I've been groomed for it.

"But also growing up and working out and grinding, you understand. You get to a certain point of being a pro or high-level college athlete and you know some of the things that come with it. You have to deal with it if you want to aspire to reach some of these goals, these lofty goals that I set out. And so it comes with it, and that's all right."

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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 5:34 AM.