Report: Caleb Williams Delays Bears Physical
The Bears could wind up playing a risky, uncertain game with the quarterback position, it seems.
It's caused by the curveball they've been thrown by quarterback Caleb Williams with medical tests, and the end result might be keeping Justin Fields on the pay roll longer than expected.
According to SI.com's Albert Breer, Williams' decision not to go through medical exams at the NFL Scouting Combine and another decision not to come to Halas Hall for a Top 30 visit this week will prevent the Bears from doing their own medical tests on the USC QB until later this month.
The Bears wanted to bring him to Halas Hall for a Top 30 visit and physical on Tuesday, according to Breer. This is earlier than most teams do these visits. They usually happen after pro days, and USC's pro day is March 20. However, because Williams didn't want the visit until after March 20 the Bears will be forced to wait.
There is no explanation given for why Williams is refusing to come to Halas Hall this week, other than logistics. But he was in Indianapolis on Saturday night and it's about a four-hour car ride to Halas Hall, much, much shorter by plane via O'Hare.
In the meantime, the Bears could still be looking into the possibility of trading Fields and possibly completing a trade before the visits and physical with Williams occur, Breer reports.
What if they trade Fields between now and then and medical testing turns up an issue that causes them eventually to not draft him, They could wind up without both Fields and Williams. Free agency would be over a week old and most viable quarterback options in free agency will have committed elsewhere.
The end result would be drafting someone else and counting on them as rookies. Would they even have the same confidence in another rookie quarterback to step right in and lead the team?
ALBERT BREER'S MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK COLUMN
It's likely nothing will turn up as a red flag in the medicals for Williams. As he pointed out in an NFL Network interview at the combine, he's never missed any starts injured while playing at USC or Oklahoma.
What this entire situation shows is the Bears were most likely planning to trade Fields, otherwise they wouldn't have had to rush the medical with Williams to Tuesday.
The Bears could delay this entire problem by waiting to trade Fields, but it was GM Ryan Poles who said he didn't want his current QB to "live in gray."
Maybe the Bears will need to make Fields get used to the gray a little longer while the fan base waits in the gray to see if he's even traded or what they can get for him.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
