SI

Joe Buck Baffled by Caleb Williams Calling Out Troy Aikman Over Missed Meeting

Buck shed some light on a dustup between his ESPN broadcast partner and the Bears QB.

Jimmy Traina

Joe Buck explains what happened between Caleb Williams and Troy Aikman earlier in the season.
Joe Buck explains what happened between Caleb Williams and Troy Aikman earlier in the season. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images; ESPN
In this story:

1. Back in Week 6, the Bears pulled off a 25–24 win against the Commanders on Monday Night Football.

In the fourth quarter, Chicago running back De’Andre Swift scored a 55-yard touchdown on a swing pass during which he was wide-open thanks to terrible Washington defense. This is what ESPN color commentator Troy Aikman said while analyzing the play:

“That’s why Swift was as open as he is. And then you make one guy miss—now with his speed, he’s off to the races. Just, um, luck on Chicago’s part. It wasn’t really so much intended to be a pick, but it turned into that just based on how it was defended.”

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams then went on social media after the game and mocked Aikman for the “luck” line. In addition, Williams tried to place blame on Aikman for the two not meeting before the game.

“I didn’t get to meet with him,” Williams told reporters. “Tried to meet with him. Reached out and tried to meet, but that didn’t happen. So, moved on from it, went and played the game and came out 3–2.

“I was here late and the timing didn’t meet up, lifting or whatever the case may have been, tried to call him after the day I was supposed to meet with him and it didn’t get through.”

However, Aikman’s partner, Joe Buck, is telling a different story.

On this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina, Buck says Williams didn’t show up for Zoom meetings not only in Week 6, but also in Week 1, when ESPN aired the Vikings-Bears game.

“That whole thing happened after the Washington game,” Buck said on the podcast. “We had them Week 1 and we had already been through that. These meetings are all set up on their time. That’s the kind of the beauty of it [regarding] the difference between in-person and on Zoom.

“If you do it on Zoom, you can go to the PR director, ‘Hey,  whatever works for you guys.’ We’ve had them sometimes where they’re spread out and we’re sitting there for an hour at different slots in the same day.

“We understand you guys are busy. You’re preparing for a game. The last thing you probably want to do is talk to us. It’s part of the drill. But we will do it for you on your schedule.”

Despite that system, the Monday Night Football crew still wasn’t able to interview Williams.

“So, we had that same issue Week 1 with Caleb, and then we had it again. I guess he brought it up saying, ‘Well, I didn’t talk to Troy before the game,’ but we sat on a Zoom forever and he never came. I don’t know what else we can do.”

Since it was Williams who made this public and put blame on Aikman for the two not having their pregame production meeting, Buck was left miffed.

“That’s the part that bothered me the most,” said Buck. “It was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’ This was on your guy’s schedule. And we sat there and we had it happen twice in the first six weeks.

“I thought the intimation that we weren’t there or [Aikman] wasn’t there was not an accurate description of how that went down.”

You can listen to the full podcast with Buck on SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

2. Despite the NBA wanting fans to believe people care about the Cup tournament, the viewership numbers tell a different story.

The semifinals, which aired on Amazon, on Saturday pulled in 1.3 million people for the Magic-Knicks game and 2 million people for the Spurs-Thunder game.

By comparison, the Boise State-Washington “L.A. Bowl” on ABC on Saturday night, which was a complete blowout at 38–10, pulled in 3.8 million viewers.

3. If you’re a sports fan, Wednesday’s announcement that the Academy Awards will air on YouTube exclusively beginning in 2029 should make you understand one thing: The Super Bowl is coming to a streaming service way sooner than you’d expect. Especially with the NFL having the right to opt out of its current television deal after the 2029 season.

4. This was a good rant by Mad Dog. And he’s 100% right.

5. I covered ESPN’s Paul Finebaum deciding to pass on going into politics to remain at the network in last Friday’s Traina Thoughts. This article, in which Finebaum pulls the curtain back even more and what the political game is like, is a fascinating read.

6. When I saw this, I got so nostalgic for my old-school Hot Clicks days. WWE star Nikki Bella allegedly dating Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean instantly would’ve been a lead item back then. Shout out to anyone reading this also read Hot Clicks. I will always love you guys the most.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I saw this going around social media on Thursday and it’s pretty great. Back in 1994, Siskel & Ebert gave Rob Reiner’s movie North the award for worst film of the year. They torched the movie.

Years later, at his Friar’s Roast, Reiner read Ebert’s portion of the review.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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