The Minnesota Vikings are rolling into the 2025 season with JJ McCarthy as their (likely) starting quarterback. That decision came after Sam Darnold chose to sign with the Seattle Seahawks and the team backed off of signing any free agents (Aaron Rodgers).
However, there is another quarterback who wanted to play in Minnesota.
“I Want Minnesota” Vikings See NFL QB Announce He Wants To Play In Minnesota
In 2024, the Bears selected former USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick. Though nobody expected them to pass on Williams, he reportedly hoped to land somewhere else:
Seth Wickersham revealed the quarterback’s pre-draft mindset in “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback.” According to an ESPN article about the upcoming book, Williams and his family considered drastic measures to avoid the Bears.
After meeting Kevin O’Connell at the NFL Scouting Combine, Williams began fantasizing about playing for the Minnesota Vikings.
I need to go to the Vikings,” Williams told his father, Carl Williams.
The possibility of Chicago forgoing a franchise quarterback and trading down with a division rival from No. 1 to No. 11 (Minnesota instead moved up one spot to draft J.J. McCarthy) was always far-fetched. However, the Williams family explored other avenues to circumvent Chicago.
Carl Williams called Chicago “the place quarterbacks go to die” and told several agents before the draft that he didn’t want his son going to the Bears. Caleb Williams wondered if he could flourish under Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Carl Williams consulted Archie Manning, who helped steer Eli Manning away from the Chargers in 2004. He met with labor lawyers about the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, which he considered “unconstitutional” because of a rookie cap on wages.
The father looked into Caleb signing with the United Football League for a year or publicly condemning the Bears to force a trade. However, Carl didn’t want to “nuke the city,” and Caleb decided he could help lead a franchise revival.
One year later, it’s hard to blame Williams for preferring the Vikings to the Bears.
O’Connell engineered a breakout year from Sam Darnold, who led the Vikings to a 14-3 season with 4,319 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. He parlayed that success into a three-year, $100 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks.
Meanwhile, Williams got sacked more times (68) than any other NFL quarterback in Chicago. The organization fired Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus amid a 5-12 campaign.
According to Wickersham, the rookie told his father that the Bears coaching staff didn’t offer him much direction on what game film to analyze.
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