ESPN broadcaster, Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman stands by criticism of Bears QB Caleb Williams

Troy Aikman is still talking about Caleb Williams.

In an interview with Front Office Sports that published Thursday morning, Aikman brought up the Bears’ quarterback unprompted and said his analysis of Williams was fair during ESPN’s broadcast of the Bears‘ win over the Commanders last month.

Williams and coach Ben Johnson took issue with Aikman calling a 55-yard touchdown pass to running back D’Andre Swift “lucky.” He also criticized Williams’ passing accuracy, though Williams acknowledged he needed to do a better job giving his targets a “runner’s ball” that would lead them to yards after the catch.

Aikman said he occasionally walks out of a stadium second-guessing something he said on the broadcast, but not that night.

“I walked out of that game feeling like, ‘OK, it was a game that came down to the wire,” it’s fun, whatever,” he said. “I got home [the next night] and I was looking at my Instagram, and all of a sudden Ben Johnson comes up and it’s got ‘Troy Aikman’ written on there. And I’m like, ‘What is this?’ First time I heard about it, so I don’t know exactly where that came from.

“I didn’t go back and watch the broadcast, but I would challenge anyone to go watch it and tell me that any analysis that I gave was unfair. They may disagree if I thought that was maybe not great ball placement, and they thought it was, but I’m not sure where it came from.”

Williams finished that game 17-for-29 passing for 252 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions for a 98.6 passer rating, and the Bears won 25-24 on Jake Moody’s field goal as time expired.

The Bears are not scheduled to appear on ESPN the rest of the regular season.