Bears quarterback Caleb Williams heard what Micah Parsons had to say about him — not only the implication that he was the top player in the league, but his boast that the Packers star would be the one to slow him down.
“He said he’s fire and I’m ice,” Williams said Thursday. “So we’ll see which one holds over.”
Williams dismissed Parsons’ threat — “I’ve got something for the Iceman, for sure,” he said —as funny. The edge rusher tried to dismiss his own comments, which were part of the promotion for NFL Network’s top 100 players ranking, as “clip farming.”
Still, there’s no question that the Bears’ offseason training program ended Thursday the way the Packers’ season did in January — with yapping between the two rivals.
“Obviously, it’s good jokes,” Williams said. “We’re football players on opposite teams, so it’s a little rivalry. Nothing taken to heart.”
One wonders whether Jordan Love, Parsons’ own quarterback, feels the same way. Or if Parsons truly grasps how much the rivalry means to both sides. From the head coaches’ dismissive handshakes to DJ Moore wearing a cheese grater on his head, the sport’s oldest rivalry crackled with an energy last year not seen since the Packers beat the Bears in the NFC championship game 15 years ago en route to a championship.
Williams wouldn’t flatter a Packers player the same way. He was asked if he’d ever vote for a rival as the top player in the NFL.
“Ummmm, probably not,” he said. “But that’s on my side of how I do things. But obviously, he’s a phenomenal player. You worry about him every single snap. So, kudos to him — and a speedy recovery.”
Parsons won’t return from his torn ACL until at least a month into the season — and perhaps just in time to face the Bears at Lambeau Field on Oct. 11.
Williams walks into the team’s six-and-half week summer break as the Bears’ best hope to break the Packers’ decades-long grip on the NFC North. Since the division was created in 2002, the Packers have won the North 12 times — as many times as the other three teams combined. The Bears eliminating the Packers from the playoffs last year could symbolize a sea change — or be just another false start by a Bears team trying to chase their bitter rivals. Williams’ play will decide the direction.
The Bears were pleased with Williams’ offseason program performance, pointing to his emergence as a vocal leader. Williams realized he could go too far, though, and tried to remain stoic when things went poorly, cognizant his teammates’ eyes were upon him.
He has bigger goals than winning the division.
“It goes back to my first conversations I’ve had with Caleb, and those were that he wants to win here in Chicago and he wants to win Super Bowls,” coach Ben 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.
“So in order to do that, that’s what we’re pursuing. His portion of that is be the best leader this team can get from the quarterback position. Excel this offense to the next level. Be a good supportive teammate throughout the whole thing. … I think he continues to make significant strides, and [I’m] very happy with where he’s at.”
That first conversation took place last year.
Now Williams’ goals are just self-evident.
“Every year for me is ‘championship,’” Williams said. “So nothing else needs to be said from there.”
