If you saw Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams go down with an injury on Sunday, you would have thought he had become the first NFL player to step on a landmine during a live game.
The third-year pro collapsed onto the rain-soaked grass at Soldier Field, screaming and clutching his hamstring. Medical staff raced to the scene to scoop up the crumpled mass that only moments before had been a high-caliber athlete racing down the field to help his team break the low-scoring deadlock against a divisional foe.
After several minutes, Williams was loaded onto the cart and whisked away, towel draped over his head to conceal his obvious emotions. But then, just before entering the tunnel, he tore the towel from his head in defiance of the agony and gave the crowd a thumbs-up as he disappeared into the bowels of the stadium.
Anxious hours passed as Bears fans waited, frantically, wondering if their field marshal and franchise player would regain the power needed to lead them onto the gridiron in pursuit of Super Bowl glory.
Then, hours later, the fateful moment came as Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio revealed Williams’ fate and the Bears’ season.
The fate? Williams would be just fine. In fact, he had “suffered” the least serious hamstring injury a human being could experience.
Fans and former athletes online didn’t waste time mocking Williams, justifiably, for his shameless, soccer-like theatrics over such a trivial injury.
“That dude looked like he got sniped while running down the beaches of Normandy and it’s possible it could be a grade one?” one fan wrote.
“Man, there is no shot that’s a grade one hamstring with how his leg was dragging as they helped him off. If it is than Caleb is even more of a bitch than I originally thought,” wrote another.
“So then he’s just a drama queen?” another asked.
In all seriousness, it’s great that Caleb Williams isn’t seriously hurt. What is not great is engaging in FIFA-like performative theatrics over something obviously minor. Williams has been an athlete his whole life and has undoubtedly suffered Grade 1 hamstring injuries in the past; there is no plausible way he thought he had an injury worthy of that reaction.
He is coming off an incredible season last year where he justified his #1 overall pick selection. Do not put that high standing in jeopardy by becoming the LeBron James of the NFL.