Caleb Williams revealed 1 absurd fan criticism actually bothers him

[ASFN Admin]

Contrary to what might be popular belief, Caleb Williams doesn't care about the criticism and hatred he sometimes receives as a No. 1 overall pick quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

Let's make this simple.

According to an interview with Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times, Williams accepts any and all judgment for when he plays poorly. He feels that comes with the territory of being a starting quarterback, let alone being one for the league's charter franchise that hasn't seen elite quarterback play in decades. To him, that kind of evaluation is obviously in bounds. For anything about how eccentric he might be or for anything that is a significant extrapolation (and assumption) about his character, he couldn't care less.

Well, except for one thing, that is.

When people start asserting that Williams is seemingly more preoccupied with being famous than being a great NFL quarterback, he thinks that's crossing a line. They don't know his background. They don't know what he's sacrificed to get to this point. They're likely operating on pure conjecture based on how (lowly) they already think of Williams.

This segment of the criticism Williams receives understandably bothers him.

More from the Chicago Sun-Times:

[Caleb] Williams admitted, however, there is one part that gets to him. When people get so caught up in his stature, effervescence, and eccentricities, they don’t take him seriously.

It fuels a misconception that he’s more concerned about being famous than great, that he’s not fully committed. Few insults could strike deeper than that for someone who used to get up at 4 a.m. to work out as a kid and sees his ambitious goals on the home screen of his phone every time he picks it up.

‘‘I’ve been serious since I was 9,’’ Williams said, sharpening his tone. ‘‘People get distracted by some of those things, and they think that the work was not put in over a consistent amount of time ... that gets lost.’’

He added that ‘‘hard work is everything.’’ And while he said it in earnest, he’s only beginning to understand what hard work in the NFL really is.

None of this revelation from Williams is particularly shocking, to be clear.

There are few things worse in this life than being accused of being insincere and inauthentic. It's someone directly questioning what you stand for and what principles, or lack thereof, that you possess as a person. However, for most of us, this sort of interaction is usually limited to one or two people at most, and it's only now and then. And most of the time, you can put a face to the name. Magnify this concept tenfold for the super-hyped quarterback for the Chicago Bears of all sports teams, who also has tantalizing star ability that he still has to hone. That's more than a few people constantly trying to get under your skin, by far most of them folks you don't even know.

Imagine how frustrating that must be.

It's a credit to Williams that he's keeping it together mentally amidst all the noise. Kudos to him for reminding us about the human being he is at his core when we only ever see him in Very Serious football contexts.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Caleb Williams isn't fazed by NFL fans' hate (except for this 1 criticism)

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